Pursuit for Shepard
by deathunit100010
Summary: Shepard has been consumed by an unknown organism, making him the most feared and dangerous creature in the known galaxy. Are the Collectors involved? Can he be saved?
1. The Taking

**A/N: I have not only edited the entire series/chapters, but have also added two new slots in the beginning. One being, Time, and the other being Explanation. These will help you to know when it is happening and give you some insight as to how/why its happening. Not all chapters will have these. Enjoy the newly renewed series/chapters. P.S. if future chapters suck, then its because I'm constantly thinking about 'what's gonna happen next'. To get a good chapter, I'm gonna need time to format it, so don't expect any more '1 chapter a day' things… unless I have it all planned out in one day. If that's the case then good for you! Feel free to give me your thoughts.**

Time: Some time after the destruction of the Collector base

Explanation: Though many Collectors were at the base, few were out scouting for suitable colonies to abduct. The few remaining Collectors gathered and, using their last remaining ship, made a portable base. Abandoning their abductions for traps (They are using the captured humans to lure Shepard) they set up yet another false distress beacon, hoping Shepard would arrive. Their intentions are described below (the story)

Plot: Shepard, Garrus and Tali are on a mission to liberate humans from a Collector encampment in the Terminus Systems

The Story Now:

"Get down", commanded Shepard

As they crouched Garrus looked over the corner, seeing several Collectors walking along the catwalks of their base (An abandoned weapons facility)

"It looks heavily guarded", exclaimed Garrus, seeing the Collectors.

"Wow, I didn't expect that"

"Shut up"

"Make me mandible mouth"

"Ahh, human's got some jokes now?"

"You know it" replied Shepard, grinning.

"Fine but this isn't over" Garrus huffed.

"Like I thought, anyways back to the mission" Shepard activated his Omni-tool, giving a map of the area. "Tali, Garrus, you guys go right, I will try to infiltrate the building and find any captives. They probably keep the important people inside instead of outside. We'll meet up in the middle and free the rest of the people inside"

"Got it"

Tali gave a worried look towards Shepard. She wasn't just worried that the man she loved was going into the most heavily defended looking place in the area, she was worried about a handicap he had received in a recent 'incident'. The handicap being a bruised arm and slightly broken bone.

In a previous battle before the mission Shepard fought with a Collector in hand to hand combat. He was pinned and shot one of the two Collectors. The other was nearing and he didn't have time to reload. He ditched the rifle and charged at the Collector. As it turned out the Collector had solid armor and damaged Shepard's arm as his fist came into contact with it. After blocking several of the Collectors own fist barrages, Shepard managed to take it down, finding a weak spot under its armor.. When she suggested he get the bruise checked out he refused.

"Takes more then a one brawl to take me down", exclaimed Shepard with a hint of pride

"Now on to the mission"

Tali came out of her flashback, and walked toward Shepard

"Shepard"

Shepard looked up from examining his weapon

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure that you can fight like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like that (she pointed toward the wound)"

"Oh that? Pffft, it doesn't hurt at all"

Tali poked the bruise, causing Shepard to flinch

"Doesn't hurt huh?"

Shepard quickly recovered, trying to reassure her.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine, now move out, I'll meet you later, and don't get hurt."

"Look who's talking?"

He winked, gave her a quick hug and moved out, leaving Tali to hope nothing would happen.

After a series of short battles Tali and Garrus got to the middle of the compound, but saw no sign of Shepard.

"Where is he?" asked Garrus in a violent whisper

"I don't know!" answered Tali with mixed emotions of worry, anger and frustration

Tali's heart was beating fast. 'What could have happened to him', she thought. As they proceeded to free the slaves in the courtyard without Shepard, they could hear some people talking about seeing the Collectors bringing in strange things.

Garrus moved up to them as soon as they mentioned screaming

"What are you all talking about?" asked Garrus, jumping into the human's gossip.

All of the humans looked at a single man. The man was middle-aged and had the look of starvation in his eyes. He hesitated before answering.

"We are as much prisoners as we are test subjects… sir. We've seen the collectors take some of our friends behind those doors and they never came back", he answered

"We always hear screaming though. Anyone who goes past those doors di-… never come back"

That news sparked interest and dread to Garrus and Tali. Garrus turned to Tali.

"Shepard went through there", said Tali

Garrus and Tali started rushing towards the building when they heard a noise that sounded menacing. A sound that they had never heard before. As they focused to see what it was they where shocked. It looked like a collector, but was completely different. It was more human shaped, its gun didn't even look like a collector's weapon, and it looked more basic, more… human.

Garrus was the first to say something, speaking only in slight awe and uncertainty.

"What the-"

It turned its head, looked at them, and released the most devilish yell they had ever heard. The yell caused the humans to scream in fear and what appeared to be pain. Tali noticed several pieces of glass break and the ground in the direction of the scream seemed to rattle. Her screen was unaffected due to the fact that it wasn't just any type of normal glass. It started moving toward them with heavy footsteps.

Tali didn't know what to do, but Garrus was shooting at it. Garrus was sure that the heavy boxes blocking its direction would cause the strange Collector to circle around, giving Garrus plenty of time to shoot it and maybe kill it, but what happened next was something he didn't believe was possible. The Collector lifted box after box, each in a hand, throwing them in several directions, screeching in bloodlust and anger, though there was something… human about its screech.

It came quickly and attacked Garrus. Garrus dodged the first blow, but the second came quick. It hit him flat in the chest and made him exhale violently. Garrus reached for his knife, located on his wrists armor, and tried to stab the Collector. His knife, however, kept bouncing off of it. The next hit sent him flying backwards into crate.

The Creature then turned its attention to Tali, who was stunned because of the events that happened in the last 8 seconds. The creature appeared to stall, either out of curiosity or because of something else. It then started walking around her. As she tried to reach for her heavy pistol, she noticed something about the Collector. It had a shard of N7 armor on it.

She was curious as to why it would have a piece of N7 on it. She then remembered the situation she was in and, putting those thoughts to the side, pulled out her gun in a quick draw. She shot the creature but the shots appeared to have been bouncing off of it.

It moved towards her, raising a fist. Before it could launch the fist it, stalled once more. Tali then heard something, a voice.

"… R-RUN" said the Collector, appearing as though it was struggling.

It then roared, grabbing its head as though it had a headache, swinging violently left and right

As she noticed this new, strange behavior, she started sprinting, she reached cover and peered around the corner but saw nothing. Then slowly she turned her head forward and saw it standing over him, charging his particle beam pistol, its head tilted.

Before it could fire, Tali rolled to the side, hearing a loud bang. As she looked back, the Collector was looking at her, the place she was once at was now a 3 ft. crater.

All of a sudden, the Collector stiffened and turned its attention to its left and started walking away. Tali and Garrus looked and saw a Harbinger collector standing.

Harbinger just started flying away, with the other collector walking in pursuit.

"Stop!" she commanded

The Harbinger unit slowly turned its head

"IGNORANT LIFEFORM, YOU DO NOT COMMAND ME"

Tali didn't back down.

"What happened to Shepard?"

Harbinger stared at her, menacingly. He finally decided to answer the 'insignificant life forms' question.

"HE HAS BEEN HEALED"

Tali stood there confused, so was Garrus, who was thinking of all possible outcomes of being 'healed'.

"What do you mean? Where is he?", asked Tali, fearing she already knew the answer.

"THIS BEING, THIS WEAPON, THIS TOOL, THIS OBJECT OF YOUR EVENTUAL DEMISE IS NONE OTHER-"

Tali's heart was pounding hard.

"-THAN SHEPARD"

'Shepard" turned and looked at her. It all made sense. The N7 shard, the stalling, the disappearance. She knew it was him to begin with, as soon as she saw the N7 piece. She however tried to deny it, but now, it was confirmed.

Tali, shocked by the information, sank on the floor where she stood and watched as they walked away.

"FINISH THEM", commanded the retreating Harbinger unit

Suddenly Collectors came out of the direction they were walking and started firing on Garrus and Tali. Garrus quickly grabbed Tali and took her to cover. He then started shooting at the Collectors, yelling at her to communicate, to shoot, to do something.

Moments later Garrus and Tali saw a ship fly away. Garrus cursed aloud as they saw the ship go away, Tali on the other hand stood starring up. She fell to the floor once more. Tali could only manage to shout a word that managed to reach the former Shepard's biogenetic ears, even through the ships hull.

"SHEPARD!"

**A/N: Hope you liked the reformed story. Please send me private emails, instead of comments if there is a problem you would like to notify me about. (To see the Collector Shepard, please Google it, for some reason it won't let me post it… whatever) In an unrelated note, send all complaints to: Someone who gives a crap**

**Special thanks to: **_**Candle in the night**_**, for helping me sort out all grammatical errors. In a related note, he seems to be helping several other authors… I wonder if there's a connection… nah. Kudos to you, my man.**


	2. The Test

Time: 5 minutes after abduction of Shepard

Plot: Tali and Garrus try to make out recent events/Shepard regains mental awareness and surprise!

The Story Now:

Garrus and Tali where still in the collector encampment, but where trying to figure out a way to tell the crew of Shepard's "condition".

"We have to go get him" proclaimed an extremely worried Tali

"How do we even know if that's him!" responded Garrus

"Didn't you here Harbinger? That was Shepard! Why would something like it lie about this! If we hurry we can catch up to them and-"

"And what?" interrupted Garrus.

"Ask him back? You saw him, he was turned into one of those things, hell he tried to kill both of us"

"That's not possible" said Tali in a matter-of-factly tone

"It took years to make the Protheans into what they are now, there's no way they could do that in mere minutes!"

"So what should we tell them? The crew" asked a frustrated Garrus

"I don't know. Keelah, I don't know"

"Well we'd best just tell them the truth then"

"No! We cant! There's no way of knowing what they'll do!" shouted the distressed Tali.

"So what do we do then? Come back aboard and act like nothing happened!"

"Don't toy with me bosh'tet" retaliated Tali, pointing a finger at the Turian.

Tali quickly though of all possible 'explanations', but decided Garrus was right. They would have to tell the crew.

"Maybe your right. Lets just go, we'll think of someway to tell them without making them faint"

As they started to leave, Tali found two interesting things. A piece of N7 armor, that likely fell from Shepard, and a shard of the new Shepard's tank-like body armor.

She picked up both pieces, putting the shard away in a pouch, but stared at the N7 piece. She put it to her chest, said something under her breath, and ran after Garrus. She helped him walk toward the Kodiak shuttle and started the engines, heading towards the Normandy.

On the collector ship, Shepard stared at his surroundings. The ship was the same as the other Collector ship he had boarded several weeks ago. A mix between organic and synthetic pieces that represented a hive of some sort covered the walls. Aside from his surroundings, he was surprised that the Collectors even had an additional base. The base looked no different from the vessel that destroyed the original Normandy. The pods surrounding the ship had been replaced, strange metallic objects taking their place. He was more intrigued, however, with the fact that he can control his thoughts, though not his body.

There have been some times where all he could 'hear' was, 'OBEY', 'SERVE', 'FOLLOW', and most recently 'KILL'. All Shepard can remember was being assaulted during his infiltration attempt, and being dragged to a Harbinger type collector that released an organism over him, then seeing himself walk out of a complex only to stare down at Tali and Garrus.

In relation the organism that was set loose upon him, there have been times where he could hear another voice in his head. It sounded like him, but more… savage. He also noticed that though his new body was stronger and more alien, his other self kept aspects of his personality, such as 'whistling' to itself when doing nothing.

Shepard was being escorted to a hanger type area that he found amazing. Though the Collectors were his enemies, he couldn't help but marvel at the architecture of place. He then noticed a ship.

'A Ship?' thought Shepard

There was only one in the entire area, but it looked like it was captured. He then noticed the fact that he was moving towards it, with heavy weapons attached to his back.

'This cant be good' He thought to himself. He needed to do something. Whatever they were going to make him do, it wasn't gonna be pretty. He struggled as he tried to take control. It was the only way he stopped himself from hurting Tali on the planet.

Alpha (his symbiotes name) started flinching, then started moving its arms as though another force had took'n control. Its body, slowly, turned from its natural red glow, into a blue vibrant glow. It then spread its arms, releasing its devil cry. It attacked the other collectors savagely, who made no notion of retaliating.

The Harbinger unit stood there, watching Shepard, as he killed the few remaining Collectors around him. After killing 13 or so Collectors Shepard noticed the Harbinger unit and ran up to it. As soon as he reached it he started beating it with his fists, noticing that the pain in his arms was gone, and that it didn't hurt to punch them. In fact, the collector felt soft.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME" he yelled in a mixture of Harbinger/Shepard voices that shocked him momentarily, only to cause him to beat the Collector more violently.

While beating the Harbinger unit, he heard it say something mentally.

"WE MADE YOU PERFECT"

Shepard started noticing he was slowing down. He was confused, but then heard another voice in his head. 'Give In'

Shepard felt a sharp pain in his head, much like the pain from the Prothean beacon.

He then saw images in his head, like the visions from the Prothean beacon, but more violent. He saw destruction, death. Several dead Krogan. Several burned colonies. A badly damaged Citadel Presidium. A Quarian helmet with a crack through it. It looked familiar.

The last image made him more resistant. He started screaming violently, feeling an unknown source of pain.

The Harbinger unit then started glowing violently.

"YOU WILL SUBMITT"

"NOOOoooorrrraaawwWWW!" replied Shepard, whose 'no' transformed into the "screech of hell", as he liked to call it.

Once he lost control of his physical self, he started cursing the Reaper in his mind. This continued for a while until he started thinking, calmly, realizing several things. 'What's with the images?', 'Is Tali involved?', 'Why was he actually talking to me?', 'Why not kill me?', 'Why didn't they fight back?' "THOSE CAN BE ANSWERED"

Shepard was shocked. Harbinger was in his mind. Harbinger started walking and Alpha followed.

"YOU HAVE BECOME A SYMBOL FOR HUMANITY, A SAVIOR TO MANY, AND THE UNDISPUTED ENEMY OF THE 'REAPERS' AS YOU LIKE TO CALL US. IN ONE MOVE WE WILL TURN THAT AROUND, AND AFTER A SERIES OF MOVES, WE WILL MAKE YOU WISH YOU HAD BEEN KILLED ON SHAR'NAK (Lorek in Reaper Navigation Systems).

Shepard, didn't understand, but paid close attention to where they where going. As he looked at the ship he noticed that the ship was merely a small personnel carrier, not that different from the Kodiak on the Normandy. The only difference was that it sacrificed seating for more armor

What made it even stranger is the fact that the Collectors had no need for these vessels, because that could simply fly and teleport back to the ship. Shepard came to a quick realization. 'Its for me'

"WE HAVE ESTIMATED THAT YOUR SUCCESS IS DUE TO YOUR EXPERINCE AND PHYSICAL CAPABILITIES"

Alpha started stepping onto the transport.

"WITH THOSE IN MIND, ALONG WITH YOUR HEALING, YOU WILL BE THE INSTRUMENT OF THEIR DEMISE. THE NEW VANGUARD OF THEIR DESTRUCTION"

The shuttles doors started closing.

"GET TO WORK"

The door closed, leaving Alpha standing.

'I need to stop this'

The ship exited the Collector ship, nearing a mass relay. He entered the mass relay, except this mass relay had a faster travel period. A 5 hour travel just turned into a 4 minute stroll.

'I can regain control, but it's gonna be tough. The more I do it, the more painful it is'

He spent the next few minutes in deep thought when the ship 'bumped' upward. The ship exited from the mass relay.

'I need to time it right, and make some type of attack on the collectors, one that will possibly help me reverse these effects', thought Shepard. A horrible thought also came to mind. In order to get things set up for a fight, he would need to gather info, which would require time.

The ship entered orbit, rocking the ship with gravity, but Alpha didn't move.

While he gathered information, he will undoubtedly be sent on missions for the Collectors. MISSION! Oh crap

As he neared his destination he started feeling weird

Shepard knew what this feeling was. It was some kind of over powering force. He would be able to see everything, but wouldn't be able to command his body or do anything about it, unless he intervened, forcibly.

Shepard noted this as "releasing the beast"

His body moved into position

Shepard, then heard the devilish voice of his other self

"Party Time"

He growled, pulled his rifle into his hands, jumped from the ship screeching, 3 kilometers from the sky, and into the unsuspecting Krogan populace


	3. The Gap

Plot: Tali and Garrus lay it on the team, receive distress signal, and aid a Krogan planet/ Shepard attacks a Krogan settlement.

Zarlok Gore was on his shift. He saw no reason to protect the settlement. There were barely any other Krogan settlements as deadly or as heavily populated as Zarlok clan's settlement fortress. Aside from the occasional merchant and enemy spies, there wasn't anything else that ever came to the settlement.

As he walked over and around the makeshift wall, he heard something, like a ship. He stared up, not seeing a thing in the pitch black night. He shrugged and started walking again. It wasn't much longer until he heard a loud noise, a screech.

He looked back at the sky, still seeing nothing. He started walking, eyes on the sky, when he noticed a feign object, falling fast. He pulled out his gun and looked through the scope and saw a brownish silver object with red streaks through its 'body' falling, then he saw a face.

He called to his brothers and they all started shooting it, but it was falling too fast and crashed through the roof of a house. Before they checked it out, they sounded the alarm and evacuated the clans women and children. Since they didn't know what it was, they sent their powerful biotic Krogan soldiers around the building. 10 Biotics and 74 Krogan surrounded the building.

Zarlok, a biotic, was the first to enter, the other nine biotics following after him. As he looked around, he saw most of the house in ruins. He then neared the crater and saw what fell from the sky. It looked at him, its red eyes glaring at him and his brothers. It screamed.

He started to lift it, and so did the other Krogan and they saw it as it was in mid-air. It could only be described as demonic. They then shot at it, one hand lifting it, the other shooting at it. None of their fire penetrated its skin.

It then started glowing red violently. It fell, landing on its feet. It raised its hand and lifted all the Krogan in the room, its biotic powers glowing red. It then started to slowly ball up its fist, making the Krogans cough and gasp in pain. Then it closed its hand. Before Gore died, he heard all his bones crack.

Tali and Garrus had just briefed the crew on Shepard's transformation.

"Highly unlikely, Collectors took generations to form, not possible by current standards... but wouldn't be impossible"

Mordin went back and forth, coming up with scientific guesses, each that didn't make much sense to the crew, and then Tali interrupted him.

"Don't guess professor, I've collected a sample from Shepard's body... his new body"

"Ah! A sample. Will start examinations"

Mordin grabbed the sample and walked to his lab.

"Will contact once breakthrough is made"

He left

"We need to get Shepard back" said Garrus

"Where will we look? He could be anywhere in the galaxy!" said Jacob, pointing towards the virtual map of the galaxy.

"Hey guys," said Joker "I just got a signal from Shepard's suit. He's using power that's off the charts"

"Shepard's suit?" asked Tali

"Yeah his suit had a beacon on it. He suggested every biotic get it incase they were trapped or kidnapped. We might not be able to know where he is when he's not using his powers, but when he does use it, we get an exact location"

"Take us in Joker" said Miranda

"ETA 2 hours" reported EDI

'Keelah' thought Tali thinking of what could happen in those two hours

2 hours and 13 minutes later

"HOLY SHIT!" exclaimed Joker in disbelief

The Settlement or what used to be the settlement was in ruins, though fire could still be heard by the ground team. The thing that made him shout in disbelief was the massive amount of impaled bodies that littered the floor, along with what appeared to be a special type of Krogan.

The ground team, lead by Grunt with Tali and Garrus, went around the settlement looking for survivors.

A Krogan approached them, blood all over its armor. It stared at the young Krogan (Grunt) and anger was evident in his voice.

"What are you doing here whelp! Get to the compound in the canyon!" then he noticed the others, a little surprised to see a Turian

"I am no whelp, I am Grunt of clan Urdnot," replied Grunt, with pride

"And YOU will tell US what's happening" he said, glaring at the other Krogan

The authority in Grunts voice made the Krogan surprised, momentarily. He then raised its shotgun at them.

"That explains allot" he said, his body looking as if he was on the verge of a blood rage.

"We are attacked by an unknown enemy, one that we have never seen, and since you don't look like you want to kill that Turian and your from another clan,"

His gun clicked to notify it was active

"I'm guessing you're behind this"

Garrus put a foot forward heavily, anger in his voice.

"WE DID NO-"

"SILENCE TURIAN! I don't talk to your kind" He then yelled 'RAHHH" and other Krogan came, all smeared with blood.

"They are with the beast! Kill Them!"

As the squad prepared to fight, a Krogan with a large scar appeared behind Grunt Tali and Garrus, putting them in stasis before they could react

"NO! TAKE THEM TO THE WARLORD!" yelled the large Krogan

"Why not just kill them! They do-"

The Krogan that talked was punched by the large Krogan

"YOU WILL DO AS YOUR TOLD!" he yelled, spitting at the naïve Krogan. He then turned his attention towards the rest of the squad. "Take them, NOW"

With that commanding roar, the Krogans moved quickly.

They grabbed Grunt Garrus and Tali, five Krogan grabbing Grunt, one grabbed Tali and another grabbed Garrus. They stood aligned, ready for their next order.

As they left the large Krogan took a look at the once beautiful settlement, now reduced to nothing but rubble, then seeing some of his people fighting, running and dying against the beast.

"You will pay for what you've done" he said, muttering in anger

He then faced his squad," MOVE OUT!"

With that the Krogan walked off with his soldiers, to the Warlord and an uncertain future for the team.


	4. Revelations

Plot: Tali Garrus and Grunt are prisoners, start getting interrogated

Tali had just finally regained conscience from the events that occurred. She was dazed at first, but then recomposed herself. She started looking at the room, her eyes darting, making out objects around her. Her eyes quickly made out an object on the floor near her. She saw Grunt lying on the floor, guarded by two Krogan and Garrus inside of a room with a large Krogan with a scar on its face.

"Wha? G-Grunt where are we?"

There was no response. One of the guards gave out a rough laugh

"This whelp has been sleeping for some time now. He was tough at first but we taught him how to stay quiet"

What they did not tell Tali was that Grunt killed several Krogan and a battlemaster before he was submitted by a powerful sedative.

Tali then noticed she was tied up by her wrists and her ankles. She was worried about their current situation and by the looks of Garrus, he had been in there for some time.

Garrus was being tortured for 'information' about the Krogans foe

"Talk Turian and we may let you out in one piece… no promises"

Garrus was struggling to breathe. They took off his armor and tied him to an ancient ritual pedestal, stained with very old blood

Taking his time, to try and 'encourage' the Turian to speak, the Krogan added more to its threats

"You know, our ancestors used to kill people on this pedestal. It would be an honor to kill a Turian on this, seeing as to this pedestal not being used for several hundred years"

"I... don't... know... anything... ughh" Garrus had nearly fainted in pain, but stayed awake.

The Krogan, angry with the response grabbed Garrus' mandible and gave it a twist, hearing a crack, a loud scream from the Turian, which made most of he Krogan in the room smile. With that he passed out. The Krogan next to Garrus looked at the larger Krogan, who nodded

The Krogan then took out a long thin silver stick, put it on Garrus' chest and activated it. Garrus let out a large, pain filled yell as several thousand volts went through his body. The Krogan removed the stick, and in its place was burned flesh. Garrus was wide awake, but quickly regained his tired look.

"We wont ask you again Turian" said a Krogan, stressing the Turian word," What is it, how do we kill it and where is you ship"

The Krogan looked at Garrus, who, in turn, spat at the Krogans face. The Krogan lost patience. Shouting, he dropping his heavy, armored fist on the Turian, knocking him out for good.

"Ramm, calm down, we'll never get information if you keep making the prisoners unconscious" said a rather thin and not so muscular Krogan, not so different from Grunts appearance.

"Silence whelp! You may be under my training and of same clan but even a battlemaster knows when to say nothing to me!" said the angry Ramm

The other Krogan, only a few decades younger than his commander, quickly stiffened and continued his job of standing and 'observing' his 'tutor'

"You'll never learn from me if you don't lose that heart and grow a quad!"

The Krogan, still in his rage, quickly regained control of himself and signaled the other guards.

"Throw the Turian in its cell", said Ramm as he again stressed the 'Turian' word, "and bring me the Quarian"

**NOTICE!: This section will bridge the two hour gap, enjoy the gore and violence you sick people.**

As Alpha finished eliminating the Krogans in the building he pulled out his experimental weapon. The rest of the Krogans started shooting at the house, launching grenades, bombs and all sorts of firepower unto the house. As the smoke died down they saw a tiny spark fly from the house. All of the Krogans looked at it.

The spark started growing, then split into shards. The shards each had one target. As the shards flew, they greatly grew in size, turning from shards to giant, thin spears of an unknown hard material. Before they could start running, the spikes had already hit them. The bodies of 74 Krogan stayed standing, lifeless and with a giant spear pinning them to where they stood.

Krogan reinforcements arrived, with their Clan Leaders Son, Rogan. Finding the bodies of their brethren, they all roared. all 242 of them searched the area for their assailant. To their surprise a lone figure emerged from a destroyed and over-barraged house.

Rogan, knowing that this figure was never here before, decided to say what all Krogan love to say. Pointing a finger at the creature , he gave his command.

"KILL IT NOW!"

With that, the Krogans started shooting. They all started shouting insults and battle cries

"FUCKING ALIEN!" said a Krogan, machine gun at hand.

"KILL IT WITH FIRE!" proclaimed a scarred Krogan with a flame thrower.

"FOR THE HORDE!" cried a strange Krogan, who appeared younger then the others

All the insults and firepower again had no effect, for the alien remained untouched, unscratched and rising with biotic powers. As Alpha rose he raised a hand, fingers arched upwards. lifting 12 Krogan, he threw them carelessly in every direction. Seven landed against walls. Four against other Krogans. The last Krogan, with a flamethrower, was thrown toward a fueling depot.

The resulting explosion killed 10 other Krogan and startled several others. The resulting flame engulfed several dozen nearby Krogan. The alien started shooting at them with its new and deadly weapon, the N7/Collector Plasma rifle. Each shot gained an instant kill and hit over 23 Krogans. The other Krogans, noticing its advancement in weapon tech and in skills, ran to cover.

Alpha pulled out a different experimental weapon, aimed at the many houses that could provide cover and fired at all of them. One by one the houses fell, each one killing whatever or whoever was in the building. The other Krogans started firing from their positions, and to their joy heard it grunt as though it had actually suffered a hit.

With renewed vigor, the Krogans all fired, adopting the new tactic of hiding and firing at this new foe. This pattern raged on for about an hour, causing much destruction in the settlement and many deaths to the Krogans. The clan leaders son decided to try and end the battle in a blaze of glory. Grabbing two Cain mini-nuke launchers from the clan's secret armory, he approached the alien.

"Try this" he grunted to himself. The weapons charged and discharged their payload. Alpha turned and saw the Krogan, only to have the payloads hit him. One in the face and the other on the chest. Rogan caused damage to himself, breaking an arm, but the other was fine.

As he rose, he started laughing. The clan would talk of this for many generations to come. He had single handedly destroyed the killer of his settlement. He then started limping away, when he heard a snarl. Quickly turning, he saw something in the dense, dark smoke. At first it was just a shape in the smoke, then its eyes started violently glowing. It started walking toward him with heavy footsteps.

Rogan noticed that he did in fact damage the assailant, only to watch in horror as its 'skin' started to grow back

Before Rogan had a chance to run, he was grabbed by the neck, raised and held in mid-air.

He managed to curse, then look his foe in the eye

"My *choke* people will… stop you" he managed to blurt out

He then heard a voice that sounded like those described in tales that where meant to scare and toughen the Krogan youth.

"Your weak, just like the rest of your people," said Alpha ominously, turning his attention towards the many figures impaled near him. He then returned his attention towards the Krogan in his hands.

"Prepare to join them" he growled

He then started glowing red

"Prepare"

Alpha reached for the first experimental weapon he used, and grabbed an ammo cartridge for the weapon.

"To"

He stabbed the hand with the cartridge into the Krogan, who was quickly starting to die due to the stab.

Alpha pulled the Krogan near to him. He whispered ominously, "Die"

In his last moments, he heard the laughter of the beast as it broke the cartridge inside of the Krogan.

Alpha let go of the body and started walking away. Rogan, standing, was nearly dead from the wound in his stomach. In Rogan's last attempt to kill the beast, he wearily raised his hand with his weapon. He pointed the gun at the creatures head. Before he could pull the trigger, a large amount of spears came out from inside his body. He died, standing and the spears would make sure he would always be standing.

Several minutes passed as Alpha hunted down the remaining Krogans. Alpha shot, stabbed and yelled at the other Krogans. With a quick glance, he saw a Krogan far away with another squad of Krogan, only they where leaving. He ignored them, killing the Krogan within his range and yelled in victory once the settlement was silent with burning buildings and bodies.

**NOTICE!: Some lines in this chapter where taken from games/comics/novels/online videos, etc. **


	5. Sticks and Stones

**A/N: Not heavily edited… well… maybe it was? Okay, it was edited, but I don't know how much exactly. It this better then the original? Tell me yourselves.**

Plot: Grunt moves into action, Mordin explains Shepard's 'illness'

The Story Now:

Tali was dragged into the place where Garrus once was. Ramm gave a rough 'humph'.

'Never tortured a Quarian before… might be fun'

The Krogan stood up and walked toward the Quarian, giving her a glare as he walked past her and toward a table.

"Your gonna tell me everything you know about this beast"

Tali just sat on the pedestal, slightly trembling at the fact of being helpless. Ramm noticed this and laughed to himself. He turned around, a dagger in his hands. He stared menacingly at Tali.

"Now start talking"

There was a haze. Bubbles where rising. Grunt was in water. Grunt opened his eyes panicking, but slowly calmed down as he realized he could breathe in this strange water. He stood, heavily breathing but calmly looking ominously over several blots, the screen in front of him was not clean or clear. He stood and watched, heard muffled yells, blots moving in, and out. After a while a blue blot approached him.

The blot did something to him. It filled him with images, with information, with a supposed hatred for animals he never knew existed. Salarian? Turian? What are these things? Why should I hate them? Beings that looked like him from the past flashed in his mind. They were famous. Warlords from the past. Hordes of Mighty warriors like him. Grunt saw schematics, blueprints, more aliens. After a while he finally noticed these images die down. He watched as the blue blot moved away, and a large greenish-red blot approached him. It called him perfect, it called him son, and after wiping the tanks old dusty screen, it called him Krogan.

Grunt woke up, stared at his 'guards' and made a quick but silent fumbling in his wrists, producing a Krogan war knife. He silently started getting up.

On the Normandy, Mordin called the crew on his breakthrough in Shepard's armor. The crew entered.

"Hey Mordin you wanted to... see...us"

Jacob was silenced by an unknown organism moving around inside of a small case, no bigger then a few centimeters

"What the heck is that thing?"

"That what meeting about. Everyone here?"

The team nodded

"Have made several tests, come up with an answer to the new body of Shepard," he inhaled deeply,

"Results not pleasant"

"Explain" asked Miranda

"Body consumed, Shepard still there, but Symbiote in place of Shepard, will have t-"

"Hold on, hold on. What's a Symbiote?" asked Miranda.

"Ah, Symbiote,"

Mordin pointed at the object moving around the glass container

"Living, sentient organism, bonds with living organisms, indoctrinates and takes over host slowly, but effectively"

The crew stayed silent, taking in the information.

"That thing has Shepard's body" said Jacob

Mordin looked at her

"Yes"

"How do we stop it?" asked Thane

"Will be difficult, more of a willpower challenge. If Shepard strong enough, will be able to fight it. Have studied it before, though extremely rare and nearly impossible to get sample"

"Anyone ever survive one of these events?" asked Samara

Mordin looked at Samara, went through his mind, remembering results of tests, inhaled and replied, ominously

"No"

Grunt got up, grabbed a guard and punched him in the chest with full force, cracking his armor and making him fall, hands on his stomach. Grunt then turned to the other guard and head butted him. He stepped over then, grabbed his knife and stabbed them. Seizing the large shotgun that the guard dropped on the floor, he started running towards Ramm.

Ramm looked at Grunt and tried to put him in stasis, but Grunt evaded the move and tackled the large Krogan, pinning him to the wall. They engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Ramm shot Grunt on his arms with a miniature pistol which he barely managed to get a grip on, but Grunt quickly ignored the pained and punched the large Krogan in the gut, making him to gasp for air violently. After a while of dodging blows Grunt took out his knife and lodged the knife in a soft spot between Ramm's head and neck.

Pulling, Grunt scalped the Krogan, who was yelling in pain. Grunt grabbed the silver and chrome stick, lodged it into the exposed Krogans head and activated it. Ramm screamed as he felt the shock through his body. After a while, large quantities of blood came out of his head and mouth as he fell, dead, and twitching. Grunt got up, pointed the Shotgun at Ramm and pulled the trigger.

Grunt proceeded to untie Tali, who had a slightly cracked screen, though nothing that could kill her. Along with a few broken bones and a rib.

"Careful, bosh'tet!" yelled Tali, feeling pain in her arms and ribs. Grunt grunted in reply.

Tali limped over to Garrus, who was sitting up and shuffling in his place. After she untied him he went on to get his armor together and scavenged a weapon. He approached Grunt, limping

"Nice going Grunt"

Grunt huffed in an excited tone as if getting ready for more fights.

"Okeer's imprints show me that this is likely an old ceremonial ritual chamber. It was probably refitted into a torture chamber and the walls are probably soundproof, so I would get ready if I where you, while the quiet last's"

Tali and Garrus scavenged weapons and ammo, finally noticing a Krogan in the corner. They raised their weapons, but the Krogan shouted,

"DONT SHOOT!"

Tali and Garrus recognized him as the Krogan who tried to help them. They lowered their weapons and approached him.

"I remember you, you tried to help me" stated Garrus

"Yes... I did"

"Why?"

"I don't know. I have… sympathy... the worst thing a Krogan can have"

"I'll say" stated Grunt, checking his new shotgun

Ignoring the rude remark, the Krogan continued.

"I have never truly been a Krogan. My mother raised me and she was a soft one. She taught me to love things, to cherish things, to keep things simple and to never hurt someone..."

Tali and Garrus looked at him in disbelief. Garrus then asked him,

"Then why are you the torturers apprentice?"

"My clan leader noticed I was soft. 'Too soft'. So he sent me to a place where, and I quote, 'will learn to be a REAL KROGAN'"

Tali couldn't help but painfully laugh a little over the though of a soft Krogan.

"So what do we do with you?" asked Grunt, finishing checking his weapon.

"I can help. I can make the guards go away, give you a shot at escape I ev-"

Garrus interrupted what he was about to say next

"I don't mean to interrupt but, do you think were with that thing in the settlement?"

The Krogan looked at him, as though asking why he had asked him that question, then he answered, "No"

"Why?"

"Well, for one thing, you don't look like you could be helping him. The other, he's not looking for you, like an ally would. Third, you all don't look like settlement raiders or a different clan to me, aside from your Krogan friend over there. Fourth, he was more monster-like, there's no way you could be friends with that thing. Fi-"

"That's good enough," replied Garrus with a laugh, "Why didn't you speak out more? Don't you get a say in what happens to the prisoners?"

The Krogan looked as though he was hoping he wouldn't get asked that question

"No"

"Why?" asked the puzzled Garrus

"He would have killed me" he answered, unable to hide the ashamed tone in his voice

Garrus looked surprised

"Why?"

"I don't know. He always gave me a look after I give out sympathetic advice. He devised a '3' excuse policy… I guess. I make 3 attempts to make him stop, and he kill's me. I didn't believe him at first but..."

He opened his 'shirt' and showed them his chest, a giant scar going across it, vertically

"I'm guessing he wasn't bluffing"

The Krogan closed his 'shirt' and stared at the floor.

"I am a disappointment to Krogan everywhere; I don't deserve to stay on this planet, or any planet inhabited by Krogan. I can't leave because if other species see me like this, they might view our species in a more docile way, and the Krogan really don't want that. I've lived my life th-"

"ENOUGH!" yelled Grunt, "We need to get out of here"

"... Right" Replied the Krogan

"I'll make them move out, the guards. You all go through the hall on the right. Once you reach an intersection, go left and run, there should be a shuttle there"

The Krogan proceeded to the door, opening it.

"Give me 30 seconds, I'll be back"

2 minutes later

The Krogan returned to meet an angry Grunt and silent Garrus and Tali.

"What... took *eye twitches* so... long" said grunt, restraining anger.

"They wouldn't go! Their gone now though, I got you your weapons, they'll be at the ship, GO, GO!"

Grunt charged toward their supposed escape route, the others following him. When they reached the shuttle, they found their weapons. Grunt laughed at the sight of his grenade launcher. They started turning on the ship. Then alarms blazed. They started to lift, when the shuttle stopped barely 6 inches in the sky.

"WHATS HAPPENING?" yelled Grunt

"IT WON'T LIFT!"

The assistant, who was hopping to go with them, sighed. It was too heavy. Usually the shuttle brought only one Krogan and allot of supplies, but the shuttle was full of people. He snatched Grunts old scavenged weapon, threw a lot of heavy supply crate out of the shuttle and jumped off.

"What are you doing whelp!" said Grunt, surprised he was using the term 'whelp'

The Krogan looked at them and yelled

"Making sure you get off this rock, all my life I've wanted to help someone in need of help as much as you are. Now that I have this chance, I'm not gonna waste it"

Garrus looked at the teenage Krogan, who yelled at them to leave. As they left they looked back at the Krogan, using the gun like an amateur. The Krogan shot, and shot, then was barraged by bullets, from the hall they came from. He lay on the floor, looking up at them. Krogan gathered around him asking what to do with the traitor.

A large Krogan in heavy armor approached them with heavy steps. All of the Krogan quickly got out of his way. He stared at the young one the floor, gave a huff and told all of his men to take out their heaviest weapon. He told them to shoot the Krogan, and all of them didn't hesitate. As the large Krogan left, he heard the spray of bullets against flesh.

As they reached near orbit, the ship started glowing red and started plunging down.

"WHATS HAPPENING!"

Garrus took binoculars and looked through them. He saw Shepard, holding his hand at then as if he was reaching toward them.

Alpha lowered its hand and started closing it.

The shuttle started creaking, and then started denting. After a while the ship started collapsing upon itself, inwardly. Once in a safe enough distance, the team jumped. Garrus, upon landing, quickly took cover close to whatever he could find and contacted Joker

"Joker come in! JOKER!"

Joker, who was complaining with EDI, quikly moved and answered the comm.

"This is Joker. What's up?"

"We got Shepard here and he destroyed our shuttle. We need immediate evac NOW!"

"What makes you so sure he won't try to destroy us? If he did that then he-"

"Now Joker!"

"I'm on it"

Grunt stared at his former battlemaster. Tali stared at her former lover. Garrus looked at his former 'brother'.

Alpha stared at them, tilted its head, as though mocking them then began taking slow steps toward them.

Shepard felt helpless. He only noticed Grunt and Garrus, never seeing Tali. He started to try taking control, but felt as though he couldn't do anything. He was panicking, trying to gain control before his friends were killed.

As the team shot at him they yelled orders to each other, observations of its armor, areas that looked weak.

"Under the arms!"

"Try to throw a grenade behind him!"

"Tali get up! Shoot at him! Help us!"

Tali couldn't do anything. She was fighting in her head as for to what to do.

'Kill it, it isn't Shepard anymore'

'Maybe he's okay! Maybe we can bring him back!'

As Alpha noticed they where shooting exposed areas he gained speed, from a walk, to a fast jog

Noticing his increase in speed, Garrus took out his missile launcher and shot at Shepard

Alpha saw the missile get launched, increased speed and hit the missile head first, not even stopping or slowing down.

As the smoke from the impact engulfed him, he darted out of the smoke, charging at his friends.

Grunt knew it was too late for anything else. He quickly remembered what his 'father' had told him He charged his shields, Fortified and charged.

"I" He yelled, charging

Shepard noticed Grunt and forced himself to try to repossess his body. Alpha was significantly weakened as it felt Shepard push through, giving it the Strength of a two Krogan instead of the average 30.

"AM" shouted the enraged Krogan

Without haste, Alpha raised its fist, and so did Grunt. Each charging they filled the gap between themselves, a trail of dust and dirt behind them as they charged at very fast speeds.

"KROGAN!"

They each struck out their hands, released a battle cry and contacted each others face.

**Well that was action packed. Next chapter will include drama and a little more bloodshed.**


	6. Of Beasts and Humans

Plot: Grunt and Shepard Fight

The Story Now:

After contact Grunt and Alpha each fell back a few feet, looked at each other again and advanced toward each other again. As soon as they reached each other, again, they started punching each other with violent force.

Grunt felt pain from Shepard's punches, but didn't back down, punching more violently with each punch. Shepard could feel the pain in Alphas body due to him weakening it, but felt Alpha punching more violently with each punch.

Alpha and Grunt each raised their fists to their heads and lunged in for a large attack. Grunt, with determination, put a lot of force into the punch. Alpha, with the symbiotic powers, released a punch of equal measure.

As their fists contacted each other there was a feign burst of air that came from the punch. They punched again. Again. Again. Again. Neither of them tired, and the fists kept on coming, along with the feign bursts of air.

With the possibility of losing Garrus and Grunt in mind, Shepard tried pushing more and more, causing Alpha to become slightly weaker.

Seeing a slight change in his enemies punch, Grunt lowered his arm in an 'L' fashion and punched Shepard in the gut, hearing it violently exhale. Feeling great for his enemies weakness, Grunt continued his punches into his battlemaster's chest, eventually hearing a crack.

As he continuously punched Shepard, he caught a glimpse at the crack and the thing underneath the crack. Black N7 armor

When Grunt charged off, Garrus used the opportunity to help Tali

"Tali. Tali get up, we gotta help Grunt"

"I... I ...cant,,,"

"What do you mean you can't? Grunts fighting Shepard, we need to help him or else he'll get killed, you saw what he did to the settlement, he-"

"I KNOW!"

Garrus was stunned by her outburst, then tried explaining to her

"..I.. I know you loved him, he... was a good man a-"

"WAS? HE STILL IS!"

Garrus was once again stunned. He noticed a whimper come from Tali. She was crying

'Poor choice of words', he thought to himself

"..Tali please, we need your help. Don't you understand that even though he wa... is still in there, he cant help himself. This thing around him... its not gonna give him up"

Tali slowly stood up and faced Garrus, noticing her screen was heavily polarized, but a shotgun at hand

".. N-neither will I.."

Garrus smiled at her new found confidence

"There's our Tali"

Grunt wondered what the under-armor meant but focused back on defeating his opponent

Shepard was trying hard to push through, but he felt something burn him mentally and was forced back, giving Alpha more energy and strength

Before Grunt could do anything, Alpha grabbed his arm and violently jerked it back, raised his head and violently head butted Grunt in the face. Alpha then proceeded to punching Grunt in the face. After four punches Alpha released an extremely strong punch, making Grunt stumble backwards, blood on his head.

Alpha raised his head and its 'mouth' moved, releasing a screech

Upon hearing the screech Grunt noticed it sounded a little like Shepard, but had a Harbinger voice mixed in there. Grunt noticed symbols that where burned onto the collector's abdomen

"Alpha? What the h-"

Alpha made a quick and heavy stomp on the ground, making it shake. Grunt stumbled and fell forward, meeting Alphas knee. As the knee contacted his gut, he felt the large force of the knee as it broke his armor, exposing his chest. Grunt was pushed several feet. When Grunt fell, he tried to quickly get back up, but was greeted by a foot at the back of his head. The foot launched him towards the ground several times, and sometimes made him rub against the dirt.

With a loud boom in the distance, it started to rain.

Shepard made a quick and painful repossession and backed up from Grunt and gave a struggled comment

"...C..C-Come..o..on...you..giant..l..lizard..."

Thinking this as a taunt, Grunt regained control and charged forward. Grabbing Alpha by the head Grunt charged onward and violently thrusted it onto a nearby boulder. After three consecutive thrusts Alpha quickly threw his head forward, pushing Grunt backwards, and punched him in the stomach, retreating several feet

Grunt stumbled backwards again, while Alpha rose and sidestepped around Grunt. Grunt charged at Alpha, but Alpha somersaulted over Grunt, grabbed Grunt by his collar while in mid-air and violently threw him several yards into another boulder.

Grunt made another attempt to charge and was met by Alpha who was also charging at him. When they made contact they grappled, slamming each others hands on the others shoulders. Alpha started glowing and started pushing Grunt towards the boulder again. As they reached the boulder, Alpha kept pushing.

Grunts back was against the boulder, but heard cracks. He yelled as he was pushed into the boulder with violent force. Alpha was pushing him deeper into the boulder until Grunt was now completely inside, then shrieked and, due to the confined space, gave Grunt a great pain in his ears. Grunt went into a rage and punched Alpha in the face, giving it enough force to push it backwards several feet.

He advanced toward Alpha, still in his rage, and pummeled it with his fists. He hit it in the back of one of its knees, making it fall forward in a kneeling position. He kicked its back, forcing it downward. Grunt pulled out his Claymore shotgun, from his back with one hand, kept a foot on the creatures back, and shot it several times, hearing a crack. He moved his foot, seeing a crack in the armor again, only this time revealing human flesh underneath it.

"Shepard" he muttered

He started pulling the outer casing of the Collector armor from its neck piece, upward. He peeled its face's outer casing and finally revealed Shepard's head. It was slightly scarred and he appeared to be either in a comma or unconscious, but nothing had changed. His hair was the same, and so was his ears and pretty much everything else. Shepard's eyes opened

"Shepard! What ha-"

Before he could finish he noticed Shepard's eyes glowed red, its cybernetic implants were showing completely. Shepard he opened his mouth and released a powerful shriek. Grunt backed off, in a daze, as Shepard stood up. Shepard smiled and, instead of regenerating his Collector face, he simply grew a Collector type rebreather mask, covering his mouth, chin and nose.

Grunt struggled to stay up. He started lazily charging towards Alpha only to be raised by his collar by the same person he was charging towards. Alpha pulled him closer and gave a small yell. Alpha and Grunt stared at each other. Alpha flinched

"... Grunt..."

Grunts eyes wearily widened as he heard his name from Shepard, not the other demonic voice, but actually Shepard

He tried reaching for Alpha.

Before he could reach Alpha, it increased his grip on Grunt, slowly turned around, Grunt still in his hands, positioned him as though using him as a shield and started walking, then jogging, then sprinting.

Grunt punched Alpha's arms, but they wouldn't budge. Grunt couldn't help but look behind him and his eyes widened fast. Alpha was running toward buildings. Grunt tried scratching and clawing at Alpha's arms again, but they still wouldn't budge. It started to laugh.

"Say hello to O'keer for me" he taunted

He felt the solid wall hit him.

Garrus had took'n Tali somewhere where it would be safe for Joker to land, but noticed Shepard started running in their general direction. Garrus ran behind buildings, preparing for a confrontation. His weapons were on low ammo and the missile launcher was out of ammo.

"We cant hold out for long, DAMN IT JOKER WHERE ARE YOU!"

"Almost there, hold on!"

Several feet from where he was standing, he heard Shepard run through buildings, exiting through the one beside the building he was in.

"Oh No"

Tali couldn't stop thinking of what she saw. 'Was that really Shepard? What happened to him. He's even more bloodthirsty then last time'. It wasn't long after this when she noticed loud crashes and saw Shepard running though buildings, using Grunt as a form of shield

"Oh No""

One wall, Two walls, Five walls, 10 Walls and then finally a boulder.

Grunt collapsed

As Alpha watched Grunt fall, it gave I victory screech and walked to pick him up and kill him, then stopped. Garrus came in between them, rifle at hand.

"Grunt get up," his request was met with a moan, "get up damn it cant you see he…"

Garrus was looking at Shepard, who was staring at him back, no collector mask, just his face and a type of rebreather.

"..S..Shepard?"

Shepard, more determined in his advancements, forced himself through the body.

Alpha looked at him and gave a demonic chuckle, then stopped. It grunted and started flinching. It then grabbed its head in pain, jerking it back and forth, and then stopped and fell to its knees.

Garrus looked at it, then backed up, not releasing his grip on the rifle

It turned blue, raised its head, then its body and struggled to say something.

"..G...G-Garrus.."

It talked, but the difference was that it wasn't the Collector anymore. It was Shepard

The rain started to slowly fade away.

Tali, upon hearing this, knew that it was him. It was Shepard. She ran towards him.

Garrus was a little shocked, but regained his posture, though not giving up the fact that it said his name. Then he saw Tali run towards Shepard.

"NO TALI DONT!"

She ignored Garrus, only stopping a few yards away from Shepard. She backed up a little as she saw the difference in his body.

Garrus looked at Shepard and asked him,

"... Shepard... buddy you in there?"

"... I-It hurts... it.. reallllllly hurts..."

Tali felt a great pain in her heart. She started feeling like she could cry by Shepard's answer and the way he struggled to say it. Whether they where gonna be tears of sorrow over his answer, or tears of joy over him responding, she didn't know.

"Shepard..."

Shepard turned towards Tali. He moved towards her, slowly step by step.

"...T...T-T-Tali..."

Tali backed up a little, but looked at him. He was getting closer, but Garrus sidestepped between then, exchanging the rifle for a shotgun.

"Shepard, please understand that we cant risk you getting to Tali. You are still a risk to her life, Grunts, and mine so please, would you kindly BACK THE HELL UP"

Shepard stood there, looked at him and answered

"...G..G-Garrus... p...p-please..."

Tali, at this point, started sobbing silently and trembling.

"No. Please under-"

Tali moved past Garrus and was walking toward Shepard.

"TALI GET OVER HERE! ITS NOT SAFE!"

Tali approached Shepard. 3 ft. 2 ft. 1 ft.

She stopped in front of him.

They stood there, looking at each other.

"…S….Shepard?" she managed to choke out from her sobs

Shepard raised his hands slowly.

"…I..it…its…me….love.."

Pain in his voice. Garrus started approaching them, but Tali waved him off, her sobs becoming louder.

Shepard proceeded to put his hands on Tali's visor, and then reached for her neck

"TALI!" shouted Garrus

Garrus was silenced by another wave, though this time he slowly advanced.

Shepard searched around her neck and pushed the release mechanism under her helmet, popping off the visor.

Tali stood there, looking at him, tears in her eyes, a sad look on her face. She wearingly smiled at him as he looked into her eyes.

He wearingly reached for her face.

When he touched her, she flinched, but forced herself to relax, closing her eyes, feeling his touch once more against her skin.

He put a hand around her cheek and, using his thumb, wiped the tears from her eyes. She started sobbing even louder. Her tears, mixed with the rain.

Using his hand, he gently cupped her chin with his thumb and index finger. He raised her head so she would once again look at him.

"...S...S..S-So... Beautiful..." he managed to painfully say.

With that she cried more, breaking down in front of him.

He slowly and painfully reached around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. She returned the embrace with all her strength, crying louder, releasing all her feeling, her worries in front of him. She cried and repeatedly said his name silently in between sobs

They stood there against each other. One crying and the other stroking her back, trying to say things to calm her down.

"...I..I'll...fix...t-this...I...promise..."

They stood there, Garrus relaxing at the sight of his friends, Shepard feeling the burn of repossession on his body, but the comforting feel of Tali around him, and Tali, releasing her feelings of the events that brought them there.

The Normandy arrived.

**A/N: The rain part… yeah… lame add-on? I don't know. It seemed like a bad idea, but many 'romance' things include a rainy, love moment. I don't agree with it, seems a little dark and moody, but its good to experiment. Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Give me your thoughts people, authors cant deliver if you cant speak. Thank you for your time**


	7. Goodbye

_**Plot: Shepard is briefed on Symbiote. Surprise**_

_**The Story now:**_

_**Harbinger had other plans besides Shepard. While no species where more interesting then the humans, Harbinger decided to use even more brute force to make the galaxy submit in fear. He knew Shepard was resisting so he made a choice. Make Shepard submit forcibly**_

_**He possessed a soldier and walked toward an area of high collector concentration. In the center of the Collector horde, he approached a Krogan.**_

_**The Krogan was heavily wounded and yelled in rage swinging his arms for something to hit, but was held back by the large number of Collectors.**_

_**Harbinger looked at the Krogan and reached for a long cylindrical container.**_

_**"Weyrloc Guld**__, you are going to be given a choice," said Harbinger. _

_"WHEN We found you, YOU WERE nothing more then a weak Krogan, ready to accept death. NOW You will now be given a choice for your ascension. You will either submit and enjoy the power i am giving you, or you can let it slowly consume you until you are a shell of your former self, OR YOU COULD SIMPLY DIE"_

_Guld looked at the strange creature in front of him, thinking of his choices. 'Power? What kind of power?'. Eventually the Krogan decided to accept the offer. He went to his knees and stared at the creatures face_

_"...Give it to me"_

_Harbinger gave a demonic chuckle, put the container on his chest and clicked a button. The button released a Symbiote, which quickly attached itself to him, slowly pouring and spreading its brownish/chrome frame all over him. All the while the Krogan screamed, then turned into a demonic screech, his eyes turning red. Now fully consumed by the creature and indoctrinated, he looked at the collector._

_"What will you have me do?"_

_Shepard was outside of the Normandy, along with its entire crew. Grunt had been given ample amounts of medigel and was back up. Shepard had briefed them on what he knew and Mordin explained the function of the Symbiote to him._

_"Its taking over my body?" asked Shepard, now used to the pain and ignoring it_

_"Gravely, yes. Fact that you still here mentally and physically is amazing"_

_Shepard thought to himself. 'Not completely doc'. Shepard then remembered what he initially wanted to ask Mordin_

_"Please Mordin, tell me. Can you stop it?"_

_The crew listened closely, but no one paid more attention to Mordin then Tali and Shepard_

_Mordin looked at them, beginning to sweat. He was afraid of this question and was never prepared to give an answer._

_"Initial tests results are pending have not had much luck in tests, resistant to everything, even sonic sound waves. Have taken necessary pr-"_

_"MORDIN CAN YOU GET RID OF IT!" replied Shepard, violently glowing blue_

_Mordin accepted that he would finally have to answer_

_"...no"_

_Shepard lowered his head, Tali grabbed him by his shoulder, squeezed it tightly, giving a very worried look. The crew looked at each other, uncertain of how to act, but all of them felt saddened by the news._

_"... I...am sorry Shepard. Tools in lab tested everything, resistant to everything, unscratched by everything. No remedy or medicine worked. Had tried burning it, no luck. Had tried freezing it, no luck. Am fearing this may be irreversible, however,"_

_With that everyone looked at him, hope in their eyed. They thought it was good news. They where wrong_

_"... Only known way to remove symbiote is... death"_

_Delta (Guld) was sent after Shepard. He would either kill Shepard and become the next Collector Champion, or get killed by Shepard, but complete Shepard's transformation._

_Either way, it couldn't wait. He reached the planet, screeched and jumped out._

_Everyone looked, in shock except Shepard. He knew that the answer he heard was coming. _

_"... Die huh? ..." He didn't know what else to say. He couldn't say anything in front of Tali. Making her cry by his decision was the last thing he wanted to do, but it had to be done._

_"Yes. Death will kill both symbiote and host. Only known way... sorry Shepard"_

_Shepard turned to face Tali and put a hand on her 'cheek' and whispered to her_

_"Tali... you know I love you..."_

_Tali knew what was coming_

_"You know that I want to protect you... you know that I will do what I can to defeat the Reapers... but,"_

_There it was. She started crying, launching herself into, what could be the last hug she would ever share with her commander. Her friend. Her love. He returned the embrace, saying things that only she could hear. He soon started having tears in his eyes. They stood there for several seconds, before he continued his talk with her_

_".. You have to understand. As long as I'm alive I'm a threat to the galaxy," 'funny' he thought to himself. 'Just two days ago i was its savior'. ," I need to do this. Its the... only...way..."_

_When he finished he once again embraced her. Tali hadn't stopped crying for several minutes. As they embraced, Shepard felt a knock on his shoulder. Garrus._

_Garrus had a sad 'smile' on his face_

_"Commander... its been a good ride... I was glad to... be a part of it"_

_"No Garrus. The rides still going... but I'm getting off" replied Shepard with a sad grin_

"_I know I should be sad here, Shepard, but that line was corny" replied Garrus, returning the grin._

_Garrus walked away and Tali increased her grip on Shepard_

_"You cant to this! You cant die! Not again! Not after all we've been through! Please...please"_

_She started sinking to her knees, slowly repeating 'please'_

"_Tali" he gently replied lifting her up._

"_I wont kill myself, not right away. I am going to try and find someway to get rid of this" he gestured to himself_

_"Tali, you've made me the happiest man in the world. You've given me much more then I could have ever hoped for. As of now, you are the commander of the Normandy"_

_Miranda stepped in_

_"Shepard, you cant just give your rank away. Its not that simple. Peo-"_

_Shepard gave her a glare that made her wish she hadn't spoken out earlier. With that Miranda sank back, angry, but still sad for him_

_"Tali please... you have to let me go... its the only way..."_

_Tali wouldn't stop crying ,never relaxing her grip from him.. Shepard gestured to two female crew members then at Tali, a sad look on her face._

_The crew members came near Tali and both grabbed her arms_

_"Shepard what happening?"_

_"...Take her to her cabin... lock her in there for an hour or until you take off... whichever stops her from coming for me"_

_Tali was resisting, shouting his name and crying out to him. Her screams of sorrow, of abandonment, of betrayal had sunk into him like daggers_

_He looked up into the sky, inhaled then turned to look at the crew_

_"Get into the ship. Leave the planet. Don't come back"_

_With that the crew said their quick farewells and entered the ship_

_Joker and the reset of Shepard's assault crew (Ex: Thane, Samara, Jack, etc) were the last to leave, most giving the commander a long salute and goodbye's, while others gave punches to the shoulder and 'colorful' farewells._

_As they left, he could still hear the yells of Tali, even through the ships metal frame_

_"SHEPARD! SHEPARD! Shepard!"_

_The noise of her shouts died down as the ship left_

_He stared into the sky, watching them leave_

_'I said I would build you a house on your planet, just as your father had'_

_He turned around and started walking._

'_I'll try to fulfill it. I'll find a way' he said, staring at his new body through a puddle nearby._


	8. Temptations

Plot: A new enemy

The Story Now:

As Shepard walked away he couldn't help but remember all the fun times they had. Him and the team. Him and Garrus. Him and Tali.

He stopped in the barren valley he had walked into and stared at the sky, deep in thought.

'What to do…'

He heard a screech not so different from his, if not deeper. He looked around at the sky and, to his horror, noticed a Krogan. The Krogan falling wasn't normal. It looked like it was infected with something. Infected with a symbiote. He noticed it was falling towards the settlement he was in a while ago.

It crashed with a loud boom, large quantities of dust surrounding the crash site

Shepard looked at the place where it crashed. It was like him, probably stronger.

'It has to die'

Shepard figured that if he was gonna go something, he would have to do it fast. It was, no doubt, aware of his presence. He would have to kill it, if not for saving the galaxy, then for Tali. One less destructive force in the galaxy would help her chances of survival in the future.

He started sprinting, Earth shattering with every footstep. He was noticing his incredibly fast speed and reflexes as he ran. Everything felt as though it passed him. As though he wasn't moving, only lifting his legs. It felt like a dream.

The Krogan turned to face him. This strange symbiotic Krogan had many differences from its original Krogan body. It was surrounded in spikes, its head arched with many spikes slicked back. It had four eyes, much like the average Collectors he encountered. It also had a mouth. Its teeth were sharp, Vorcha like, even.

Making a quick analysis, he noticed it had a symbol burned on its abdomen

'Delta?'

Before he could react, the Krogan quickly raised its hand at him. Its hand and body glowed red and, as it snarled, sent a force of red biotic power at him. The biotic wave went towards him surprisingly fast, making him trip and fall violently on the floor. Shepard slowly got back up, but was pushed back down by another blast of biotic energy.

Shepard got up once more, but he was prepared when he noticed the red biotic energy reaching him. Shepard released a force of blue biotic energy. As the two waves contacted each other, the middle exploded in a burst of miniature energy as the rest disappeared.

As the Krogan prepared another blast, Shepard mimicked him. They released biotic energy, red and blue, at the same time, forming a large and growing ball of biotic energy in between them. Both of them pushed hard, increasing their biotic powers velocity, causing the ball of pure biotic energy grow then explode

The force knocked both of them down

Shepard got up and glared at the Krogan, who was at this time charging at him. Before he could do anything, it quickened its speed and crashed into him. As it reached him, it grabbed him by his ribs and pushed him along with it. It took him towards a large section of boulders. It made him forcibly contact it with his back. He slumped forward from the impact, only to be met by a fist.

The fist punched him several times before picking him up once more and launched him in the opposite direction. Shepard landed on the floor, face first .He slowly got back up and started looking around. He noticed he was about half a mile away from the Krogan, who started charging again. Shepard raised his Collector beam rifle and shot it. The Krogan, who was still charging, contacted the beam, said beam having no noticeable effect on it.

Knowing it was useless, Shepard threw the rifle to the ground and started charging at the Krogan. He took off with a blast of speed. When that hit each other, the ground beneath then rattled.

The recoil of the hit made both of them stall before hitting each other again. Shepard kept his pace, punching it, but he notice that it didn't have much effect. The Krogan was far stronger and durable then Shepard.

'Let me help' came a demonic voice.

Shepard's eyes lazily widened as he knew it was his other self, Alpha.

'NO, you've caused enough damage already' grunted Shepard, mentally

The Krogan managed to punch Shepard in the chest, making lunge forward. The Krogan kneed Shepard in the face, once again launching him several yards. He ended up crashing onto the barren floor, small cracks appearing around the area he landed in.

Shepard slowly rose up. He became increasingly angry and reached for his back, and pulled off his symbiotic shotgun. The weapon had an infinite amount of ammo. If what Mordin said was true, then this will be able to damage the Krogan and vice versa.

Several minutes ago

"Are you sure Mordin?"

"Positive! Symbiotic weapons can help kill other symbiotes, should you ever encounter one, though armor difference in each symbiote may make killing other symbiotes difficult. Hmmmm... will need to study. Also, symbiotic flesh hardest material in galaxy considered 'flesh'. Could have been a element if not flesh"

"Thanks, that information might come in handy"

The Krogan saw him pulling out his shotgun and did the same, producing its own shotgun.

It roared and launched itself at him, shooting and charging. Shepard did the same, shouting in a rage.

'You are weak. I will make you strong. Give in', asked Alpha

'NO!' responded Shepard

As they made contact they both fell back. They looked at each other and started raising their weapons. They soon ran at each other, gun in one hand and a raised fist. They soon made contact, punching and pushing the other. As soon a one raised its weapon to fire, the other would knock it to the side, trying to either punch the other or raise their own weapon along with the occasional shooting.

Shepard craftily pulled out his pistol in the midst of the fighting, but the Krogan did the same. Their fight then raged on continuously. They discharged their weapons from time to time. As Delta raised his gun to fire, Shepard would push it to the side and aim his weapon at said creature. The creature would then do the same.

The fighting raged from a simple gun fight, to a complex battle of pistol shooting and acrobatics. The Krogan didn't need to move, for its armor was far heavier then Shepard's, but Shepard had speed and flexibility to his advantage, moving around his foe like water.

The Krogan gave out an angry shout and head butted Shepard as he came in front of it. Shepard was surprised and was knocked back. He started to retreat backwards. He noticed the Krogan raising its fist. It punched him a few feet away from where he was standing, making him violently exhale from the impact.

He fell, clutching his stomach. The Krogan walked over him. It kicked him hard in the stomach, making him slide several feet

Shepard coughed from the damage. He felt a broken rib or two. He forcibly made himself rise, only to fall on his knees.

"Weak"

That's all it said as it go closer.

'Give in' proclaimed the symbiote

Shepard could feel himself mentally start to lose power. He was breathing heavily. He was bleeding. He was dying

'Let us do this together' tempted Alpha

Shepard wouldn't give in. He held on to the hope of finding a way of getting the symbiote off of him. To safely be with his friends.

Shepard started thinking of people that would miss him if he were to die. People he needed to see again. People he needed to be there for.

One person came to mind

'Tali'

Shepard couldn't die and let that thing loose, let alone kill himself later only to have another take his place. He grinned at the thought.

'Sacrifice one monster for another'

The image of the approaching creature started blurring as his view started fading. His breathing was heavy and he was struggling to stay up. The darkness started consuming him. He was passing out. Before he passed out from pain Shepard whispered, regretfully,

"...Fine..."

As Shepard physically passed out he swore that he could hear a demonic laugh


	9. Unleashed

Explanation: Symbiotes have three phases in transformation, or at least they do in my universe… don't judge. The First Phase (Acceptance) made him fast and savage-like. The Second (Indoctrination) would make him stronger and durable to continuous weapons fire. The Third and last (Suppression) would make him near invincible, along with other side effects. The only downside was that the Collectors controlled its every move. After the first two phases, it would wait a few hours before finally entering its final phase. So yeah… its pretty bad-ass.

Plot: Shepard Unleashed

The Story Now:

The body of Shepard went limp, on its knees. Its blue eyes faded, replaced by dark lifeless eyes.

Delta grunted.

"Is this really Alpha? Is this really the one who shook the planet in fear? Pitiful creature"

He moved towards Alphas body, intending to claim it as a trophy. He stopped.

Alphas body started convulsing. Its head rose, shooting a brilliant ray of red from its body's cracks, along with its eyes. Delta quickly recomposed himself and advanced towards Alpha, gun at hand. As he stood beside it, he raised his weapon, about to pull the trigger.

Before Delta could pull the trigger, he heard laughter. In a large burst of biotic energy, Alpha screeched, knocking Delta back a few feet.

Alpha mentally smirked. He had been accepted, which was a big deal in a symbiote/host relationship. Once the transformation was complete it would be almost unstoppable.

Phase one was starting. It would be… glorious

Tali was in Shepard's quarters.

Tali, as soon as she calmed down, threatened the crew that if they hold her back ever again, she would personally kill him or her, or mortally wound them.

Tali had never left the captain's quarters. She was staring at the picture frame on Shepard's desk. Its pictures where slowly moving, one after the other.

One picture showed Tali and Shepard at a party. In that party he was meaning to dance with her, but ended up in a break-dance competition between Mordin and himself. Shepard had won in a tie breaker, 7-8.

Another picture showed them cuddling in the bed, taken by Joker, who in turn was punched for being on the captain's cabin during 'private' hours.

The third picture showed them along with Garrus. Shepard was in front, Tali behind him with an arm hooked under his arm, her shyness being obvious, and Garrus standing beside Shepard, rifle at hand while his other was on Shepard's shoulder.

Tali couldn't help but shed a tear at what just recently happened. She had to stay strong, but she didn't know how. She was sure that he didn't plan on killing himself, but she didn't know what he could possibly be doing. The last time he died, it took her months to get reconciled, only for him to show up a few months later. With the thought of him showing up later, Tali gave herself hope.

"He will find a way"

Garrus had been supporting Tali ever since the events that just happened. He occasionally visits her and try's to help her. Tali was an emotional wreck at the moment. The slightest mention of Shepard could make her cry, so everyone on the ship just stayed quiet on the topic of Shepard around her.

The crew was making its way to the Illium, to re-supply. Tali couldn't bare to go outside at the moment so she decided to make Garrus do the re-supplying, who gladly accepted.

"Anything for you Tali"

After her talk with Garrus, she went back to staring at the pictures and thinking back at the times of happiness.

Alpha was surrounded in a giant ray of red light. He rose in mid-air, his body positioned like a cross with his head tilted back.

In the seconds that followed the agreement of possession, Alpha grew light armor. Small spikes started forming around the area of his forearms. His legs began forming spiked shin guards. Alpha's screech became even higher pitched.

Alpha's 'teeth' began forming into a sharp row of teeth, comparable to those of Vorcha. Alphas hands became sharp tipped, like claws. Its eyes became narrower, giving it the appeal that it was always angry. As the transformation died down, so did the glowing. It ended its screech and fell on its feet. He broadened his shoulders, heavily breathing.

He, almost instantly, raised his head and screeched, making a shockwave of biotic energy surround him and the area around him. Earth shattered and cracked where he stood. Alpha lowered his head and glared at Delta, who was getting up from the biotic blast.

Delta and Alpha stared at each other. After a while It opened its mouth, snarling in bloodlust.

"DELTA!" growled Alpha.

"ALPHA!" replied Delta, eagerly snarling.

They both mentally smirked and released roars, Deltas being heavier, and Shepard's being more high pitched. With an eruption that sounded like thunder, Alpha and Delta launched themselves at each other.

Their improved physique made every footstep dig into the ground, leaving a mark. They neared each other in milliseconds. Alpha slid on the ground as Delta tried to punch it. While sliding Alpha hooked his arm around Deltas, forcing himself up and Delta down. Using his knee, Alpha kneed Delta on the face, making him jerk his head upward in pain. Before Delta could react, Alpha swung its legs at Delta knees, making fall on one knee.

Once Delta was on a knee Alpha kicked the back of Delta's head with the back of his boot, and then kicked it in the face with the other. Once Delta fell forward, Alpha grabbed one of its legs and swung it in a random direction, letting him fly off. As soon as Alpha launched Delta, it sprinted, leaving another thunderous noise in its wake.

As Delta flew, he couldn't help but say,

"How…"

It never truly expected Alpha to be this strong, with fear creeping inside of him, he prepared for his eventual landing on a solid ground.

As they neared Illium, Tali found recording of their trips and occasional R&R vacations.

The video she was watching gave a view of a hotel room, a beautiful city though the large screen window in the background. On the bed was a sleeping figure.

"Look, there's the bloody creature. As you can see, its sleeping. Be very quiet" said Shepard, narrating his video. Shepard then pounced on the object on the bed

"Shepard wha? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"It appears I have awoken the beast. I better put her down quickly!"

Shepard placed the camera on the counter and forcibly wrapped Tali in the blanket very tightly. Once she was sealed, he tied the blanket in a knot and sat on the foot of the bed, watching her struggle to get out

"Shepard! Let me out of this!"

Shepard, who was in his boxers, wearing a tank top and sitting on a corner of the bed, looked at her, a smile on his face

"Only if you kiss me" he said playfully

Tali sighed, though couldn't help but laugh a bit

"Fine", she replied

Shepard laughed in victory, removed her visor and kissed her. The video then ended

Tali couldn't help but chuckle. She then put in another one, this one about being at a theme park

"We could go on that one if you want" said Shepard, pointing at the Specter Spacer, a roller coaster

"…Looks dangerous"

"Isn't what we do dangerous?"

"Yeah, but I'm not going on that"

"Okay" said Shepard, a devious look on his eyes.

As soon as she adverted her eyes from him he scooped her up and ran toward the ride

"SHEPARD NO!"

The video showed a series of the rollercoaster going up and down, a clear view of Shepard and Tali on the rollercoaster. Shepard had his hands up, Tali had her arms wrapped around him tightly.

The video resumed with Tali exiting the ride, breathing heavily and Shepard behind her, laughing.

"That wasn't funny!"

Shepard looked at her, still laughing. She looked at him. A while later she joined in, laughed.

"Keelah! That's the most fun I've had in a long time!"

"It was only one ride, there's plenty more around here" replied Shepard

Tali gave him a curious look.

"Where to next captain?" asked Tali in a playful tone

Garrus, who was holding the camera, raised his hand

"Permission to make a suggestion sir" said Garrus with a military like tone.

"Permission granted" answered Shepard, returning the tone, grinning.

"Might I suggest," he turned to Tali, raising an amused eyebrow, "the Tunnel of Love?" replied Garrus, his devious 'smile' hidden from the viewers.

Tali blushed, but Shepard accepted the suggestion, once again scooping up Tali and storming to the ride.

The video ended with Garrus in close pursuit of his friends, laughing as he recorded the moment.

Tali chuckled again, a tear rolling from her eyes

While in mid-air, Deltas symbiotic reflexes kicked in and he forced himself to the ground, pulling its dual pistols and firing at Alpha as it neared him.

Alpha extended its leg to kick Delta in the face. Delta side stepped, wrapped a hand around Alphas leg and swung him to the ground.

By the time Alpha landed on the ground Delta was already pulling him up.

"You call yourself a symbiote!" yelled Delta, not impressed

Alpha stared at Delta and started laughing. He then punched Delta in the face, forcing him to let Alpha go. They roared at each other and engaged in further melee combat.

Deltas, Krogan/Symbiotic genes helped Delta by increasing its strength even further, making every blow a lethal one.

Alphas Human/Symbiotic genes helped him through flexibility and speed. The symbiote on Shepard was easily beating the Krogan symbiote and laughed to itself.

Making a quick and powerful punch to Deltas stomach, Alpha reached for Deltas neck, crushing it and reducing his flow of air. Delta choked and tried hard to make Alpha release its grip on him. To his surprise, Alphas grip was stronger then before. Alpha laughed demonically, then brought Deltas face closer to him.

"You are weak Delta," commented Alpha, releasing a snarl

Delta released a defiant roar.

"You don't deserve to breathe"

Delta was about to release another roar, when he felt something jab into his stomach.

Alpha has dug his hand into Delta. He sinisterly wiggled his sharp fingers inside of him, laughing demonically. He dug his hand deeper, with Delta roaring in pain, and grabbed his supposed heart. Gripping it, he started pulling it out, slowly and menacingly, enjoying the look on the others face.

"DIE" whispered Alpha, with a snarl

As he finally took it out completely, hearing a snap as it detached from his intestines. Deltas red glow faded, turning black and lifeless. Staring at the heart, Alpha gave a loud screech, which erupted all over the valley.

Tali was lying on her bed when EDI called in

"Miss Zorah"

Tali lazily rose from her bed

"What is it EDI?"

"Mordin has asked for your presence in his lab"

Tali was surprised. 'So soon?' she thought

"I'll be right over"

Tali sat up from the bed and walked towards the cabins door, taking a quick glance at a picture she hadn't seen before. It was Shepard behind Tali, hugging her while she worked, a palm on her face. She gave herself a sad smile and moved onward toward the elevator

As Alpha roared, blood started oozing out and squirting on its chest and face. Alpha, in a frenzy of rage, started violently stabbing the Krogan with his hand, eventually stabbing through the Krogan. Alpha dropped the body of Delta and gave another victory screech.

Alpha reached for the symbiote, that was sliding from the now visible Krogan. Alpha looked at it as it quickly turned hard and started evaporating, a sign that the symbiote was dead.

Alpha placed its foot on the head of Delta's old host, gave one last roar and crushed it with a loud snap.

Harbinger watched the fight through Delta and gave a short laugh

"WE HAVE HIM"

"What is it Mordin?" asked the tired and frustrated Tali

Mordin looked up at Tali. He gave her a smile

"Tali, will be glad Shepard still alive, correct?"

"He's still alive? WHERE IS HE!" replied Tali unable to hide her excitement and eagerness.

"Calm down. Still has symbiote remember?"

With that Tali calmed down, appearing a little sad.

"Not mean it like that. Please, only meant it as a… Never mind, too important! Have made breakthrough on symbiote!"

Tali looked at Mordin in disbelief

"A breakthrough? What kind of breakthrough?"

Mordin smiled at her question, he had expected her to ask.

"Will help Shepard fight off symbiote, maybe remove it completely"

Tali took in the information

"…. BOSH'TET!" she yelled, appearing as though she wanted to violently attack the Salarian.

Mordin recoiled at her outburst.

"Why angry? Don't want to help Shepard?"

"Why, hours after you tell him that dying is the only way, are you telling me you've made a breakthrough!"

"Haven't made it then, have now, besides, told him it was only KNOWN way. We know Shepard. Wouldn't kill himself right away. Regardless, listen. Have contacted old friends. Former STG. Have been doing research of their own. Has helped find breakthrough"

Mordin activated his omni-tool showing what appeared to be a cannon

"Weapon needs manufacturing however. Quicker we assemble weapon faster we get Shepard back!"

With that information Tali asked for the coordinates and set a course for Mordin's friend's base.

Tali approached Joker and gave him the coordinates.

"What about Illium?" asked Joker

"Not now Joker, now GO!"

As the ship exited the mass relay I entered the relay again making its way towards the given coordinate. Tali was worried. In her mind she was occupied at how long it would take and what would happen to Shepard in the time it takes them to make the weapon.

The compound was in flames. The base Tali Grunt and Garrus were in was destroyed, its people all over the place. The ground was littered with bodies, men women and children. The Clan leader was urging his men to hold their ground in the bomb shelter while the remaining 14 Krogan where forcibly keeping the steel reinforced, bomb resistant door closed from the creature on the other side. Even with all the locks and Krogans holding back the door, the monster was easily hitting the door.

"We cant hold this door forever!"

"We have to!"

"We Canttttt…"

Before the Krogans holding the door gave in to their exhaustion, the violent banging on the door ceased. The Krogans looked at each other, unsure of what was happening. Slowly they sent an unwilling scout outside of the room.

The scout slowly and nervously made his way around the compound. He saw everything destroyed, nothing left except a few of the heavily reinforced structures. He made his way to the door he came from and banged it.

Nothing

He banged again

Nothing

He banged harder and the door eventually gave the sound of the locks giving way. Heaving, the Krogan opened the extremely heavy door, barely opening it. As he entered the room his brethren were all over the floor.

Most where decapitated, the rest where mangled and their body parts all over the place. The lights from the . He followed the trail of bodies with his eyes and saw the clan leader being held by a strange creature. The creature was obviously enjoying the pain on the Krogans face.

As the creature shot the Krogan leader in the stomach several times it slowly and sinisterly turned its head at the scout, still shooting the leader.

As the scout turned to run, he found himself facing the creature. He was raised. The creature raised its weapon to the scouts head.

Before it shot him all he heard was laughter

**A/N: The carnival part… yeah. If you viewers want, I can make a story about it. I probably will eventually do it, but I may do it sooner with a little encouragement :3**


	10. Consumption

**BEHOLD, THE SHORTEST OF THE CHAPTERS! THOUGH IT MAY BE SHORT, ITS MESSAGE IS CLEAR. READ AND FIND OUT.**

Plot: 2 days later. Location: unknown

Prelude to this chapter:

From: Ymir Knax

To: Sally Knax

Time: 14:06, Military time.

MOM! THIS COLONY IS GREAT! I've had allot of fun. I've made several new friends and they all like me for who I am! Going to this colony is the best choice I've made in my life so far. I've enjoyed the clothing you've given me. I like the stripes and adding a green tint to it makes it feel relaxing, oh and that robot you sent me, the Pr0y-bot, yeah that thing really helps me out when I'm not here. Sorry I have to cut this message short, alarms just started blazing. Its probably just another drill, you know, keeping the people on their toes in case of any raids. I'm gonna go check it out.

XXXXXXXXXX

From: Ymir Knax

To: Sally Knax

Time: 19:49, Military time.

I c4n h3er it! Its all ovr d plaze...! ItZ in my H3d. ITz makn mi he4d Hrt. I cen Barly rigHt. Te GarDs r deD, My freNdz ar DeaD. Imm Ded. Pleez donT luk for m3... Juzt no that iM n A betur plaze. 1 Lov u….

XXXXXXXXXX

The story now:

2 weeks later

Shepard was standing in a shuttle, nervously moving around, hating his next and very damaging mission. His rebreather was gone, and he regenerated his 'helmet'. As he decided to sit, he reveled in the painful memories of past conflicts. 7 Human colonies, 14 Turian settlements, 3 Krogan colonies and 5 Salarian settlements. In his head, Alpha felt the next phase come. The mental part of the phase would happen in this place, on this shuttle, right now. The physical part would happen several minutes later.

Shepard was sitting, when he was suddenly, mentally, attacked by the creature. He resisted heavily, combating it with all of his mental power.

'AFTER ALL IVE DONE FOR YOU, YOU STILL WONT SUBMITT?'

"HELL NO! YOU'VE MADE MY LIFE WORSE!"

Shepard felt a pain in his head.

He thought to himself, 'Is this the indoctrination phase? Oh no'

He felt an even more intense pain then the last one causing him to yell and fall to his knees. He put his hands to the side of his face, as though trying to keep it inside.

'YOU WILL DO WELL TO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME HUMAN, I INHABIT YOUR BODY AND I WILL DO AS I WILL!'

"NO!"

Shepard fell on the floor, still yelling, now turning into screams of pain. He was becoming weak. He was swaying on the floor, moving painfully as the attacks came, each stronger then the last.

"I helped you when you were weak, I helped you when you needed it, and I made sure nothing got in your way"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

After hearing this, Alpha gave a demonic laugh, much to Shepard's distaste.

"YOUR HEAD?"

The strongest of the head pain came, there was no fighting this one

Shepard screamed in pain as his last willpower faded. He felt himself go limp. He lay on the floor, still.

"NOT YOUR HEAD SHEPARD"

Shepard got up slowly, on his knees then on his feet. His muscles tensed, his eyes glowed violently red, and he smiled. The next words he spoke where in perfect sync and harmony between Shepard and Alpha, and it would send a chill throughout the galaxy

"Our head"

**What will happen next? Where is his next mission taking place? Is Shepard lost forever? Find out in the next chapter, ya impatient pricks!**


	11. Results

Plot: Shepard's mission + surprise + reunion

The story now:

The Citadel was, most recently, at a peaceful place. The people of the Citadel enjoyed the many departments of the Citadel, ranging from its stores to its hotels, to its monuments, to its overly-funded parks. In C-Sec there was an emergency issued. An anomoly had entered the Citadels territorial boundary. Many battleships surrounded the Citadel, ready for whatever came from the mass relay. To their surprise a lone transport came into view. Ignoring the fact that the vessel was small, the ships prepared their weapons. Normally this wouldn't happen, but the fact that the ship did not match any known ship signatures raised an alarm. The last ship to do so was Sovereign an the Collector vessel.

Attempting to make contact and avoid a possible massacre, the Turian Captain of the Yarlik-Shir and head of the Citadel's Turian Defense Force (TDF) approached his comm terminal.

"This is Captain Lingho Kronus of the Carrier Yarlik-Shir, state your business"

No response

"This is Captain Lingho Kronus of the Yarlik-Shir, state your business at once or we will be forced to open fire on your vessel"

No response

The Captain looked at his helmsmen and nodded

The Yarlik-Shir fired upon the small unknown vessel

Alpha cursed under its breath. The pain in its body was becoming unbearable, even for a symbiote as old and as experienced as himself. The second phase was going to start and now was particularly not a good time. He saw the large ships outside of the 'window' fire. He cursed to himself again as another feeling of pain crept into him.

"Boost Shields and Kinetic Barriers. Increase Thruster speed 35%. Activate emergency protocol 1-59-Epsilon"

The Ship made a noise, confirming its change in 'gears' and started moving

In the Normandy, Tali and Mordin were talking about the new weapon developed by Mordin in the science lab.

"Will it work?"

"Certainty not possible until tested, initial results, however, are promising. Have modified sniper rifle to shoot syringe. Syringe tipped with element zero, should pierce through symbiote armor, hit host. Force of sniper rifle ensures it"

Tali and the Normandy crew had finished making the weapon that would supposedly help Shepard fight off the symbiote, but Tali had her doubts. Tests were run on reanimated symbiotes that were without hosts, which only increased her doubts.

"I don't want another life-threatening mission to happen Mordin" said Tali, annoyed by his response, but happy at his attempts to help.

"Worried tests on un-hosted symbiotes aren't foolproof?" asked Mordin.

Tali, surprised at his response, only nodded.

"Am sorry, but was safest way of performing tests, anything else would have been... messy"

Tali sighed in frustration, told him to perform a few more evaluations and left the lab. On her way to the elevator she met Garrus standing at the door, an urgent look on his face.

"Tali something's happened"

The small vessel easily evaded the shots fired and advanced toward the Citadel. Alarmed by its rapid movements, the Captain ordered heat seeking missiles to be fire, along with all main turret batteries. The ship unleashed its arsenal of firepower, but nothing had made contact with the ship so far.

'Damn it' thought the Captain.

"All ships, fire at that vessel!" commanded Lingho.

As soon as he ordered it, all ships started firing. Their payloads were of no use as the ship still easily evaded their fire, though few minigun rounds appeared to have hit it.

"Deploy a squad of fighters"

The Yarlik-Shir's hangers opened, releasing a dozen fighters. Convinced that a small squad of fighters would destroy the transports, the captain ordered them to advance. As soon as the ships were within a kilometer of the ship, the transport opened several small slots on each side, 12 in total. Each slot fired miniature lasers which burned through the shields and sliced their ships into several pieces.

Cursing under his breath the commander issued his next order.

"Deploy the fighters"

"How many?"

"ALL OF THEM!"

Within seconds, several hundred fighters came out of the hanger of the Yarlik-Shir along with fighters from other carriers. Each ship had different symbols and markings representing the ship they were from. En mass, several fighters approached the ship and fired their main weapons. Their weapons didn't seem to damage the ship, which started glowing a feign red. As they continued firing, the ship started glowing violently.

Inside the ship, Alpha laughed to himself.

"How much power do we have?" he asked the ships modified VI, while grinding his teeth.

"Power is at maximum. Beams are ready at your command"

"Divert all power aside from the thrusters toward the beams. .Mark a target, one for every energy bar aside from engine power"

"Confirmed. Marking... done. Over 400 targets marked"

"Fire"

The transports slots opened wider. The slots revealed small dark objects representing guns. They let out a strange static noise then shot several beams. At once the death toll for fighter pilots reached over 451. Those who observed from afar were stunned, the Captain included, whose mandibles twitched. The slots then retracted back into their original position.

"DAMN IT, contact the Citadel, tell them to close the wings. If they ask, tell them to just do it"

After a short stall, the Citadel's wings started closing. As the Citadel started closing its wings, the fighters surrounding the transport were being shot. Each slot in the transport was firing at a single ship, each ship being destroyed upon contact

"We are losing power. At current rate, we cannot make it into the Citadel within the time permitted. Immediate action suggested" stated the ships VI

Alpha gave a pained 'humph' as he felt the pain once more

"Divert all power to thrusters. Accelerate to maximum speed" replied Alpha, grinding its teeth

The transport stopped firing and released a violent blue from its thrusters. The ship darted from the concentration of fighters and quickly approached the Citadel.

"Running from the fight?" asked the Captain, mostly to himself.

"I don't think so. All ships change round 'munitions to Ion. Disable that ship!"

All ships started firing blue colored anti-ship rounds. The transport managed to evade most of the rounds, but was hit by a few dozen rounds.

"Activate the experimental cannon and fire on my mark"

"But it hasn't been tested yet! Who knows what'll happen"

"I SAID DO IT!"

At the command the pilot reached to the side of his flight terminal and touched a green stripped button. Outside of the bridge, a large portion of the carrier opened and revealed am over-sized Thanix cannon. As the Captain ordered it to be fired, the tip of the cannon started lighting up and all the power inside the Yarlik-Shir started flickering on and off. After two seconds a small red beam shot out towards the unknown transport vessel

Alpha looked though the screen, seeing the cannon

"What th-"

The transports shields held off the beam for nearly a second before the shields disrupted and the beam made contact with the shuttle. The beam broke through the shuttle, making a large hole. Alpha managed to dodge the beam by mere centimeters. Noting that the ship would be destroyed in seconds, he broke open the transports hatch and launched himself forward. He started drifting towards the Citadel as the transport behind him blew up. Using the explosion as a boost, he aimed himself towards the Council chambers and quickly flew towards it.

In the Yarlik-Shir, Captain Lingho Kronus and his crew cheered at the explosion. Nearly all of the ships power was wasted in charging the beam, but it got the job done. As he moved away from the view he noticed a small object out of the corner of his eye. Magnifying the object, he was stunned at what he saw. It was a lone collector-ish alien. He quickly alarmed C-Sec of the strange alien and they confirmed it.

"We have a lock on the object. Its going to land in..."

"Where? Where is it going to land?"

"… In the council chambers sir"

Kronus dropped his gaze. Though he was stunned at the information, he couldn't let it affect his train of though.

"Alarm the Councilors, clear the council chambers… no... wait... set up a surprise for the alien"

"What kind of surprise sir?"

Kronus 'smiled' as he gave his answer

The Normandy exited the mass relay and found themselves in a wreckage along with the view of a closed Citadel

"What happened here?" asked Tali

"Hell if I know, I'll try to patch through to the Captain of the TDF" responded Joker

"This is the SSV Normandy, to the Yarlik-Shir, we are requesting an audience with the Captain of TDF"

"Wait, were confirming your identification... Spectre?" said the surprised voice on the other side.

The Normandy was given Spectre status as Shepard's flagship, so the ship was given full Spectre advantages.

"… okay. Patching him through"

"Yes Normandy, this is Captain Lingho Kronus of the Yarlik-Shir" said an annoyed and frustrated Turian

"You will excuse my tone, but as you can see, there has been quite an... incident. Now, how may I help you?"

"You can start by telling us what the heck happened here, Captain" proclaimed Garrus

"Yes, well, an unknown alien vessel entered Citadel Space and we tried to contact it"

Garrus glanced over to Tali, who was standing stiff at the information, then looked back at the Turian

"The vessel ignores all attempts to communicate, so, as we warned, we engaged in a firefight. We managed to blow the vessel up in the end, though the cost in personnel was... extortionate"

Upon hearing that the vessel was destroyed, Tali felt a pain in her heart. 'Did they kill Shepard?' thought Tali.

"There was however a strange alien that exited the vessel before it was destroyed"

Upon hearing it, Tali's hopes soared once more. She then approached the comm terminal.

"Where is it now?" she asked, rather anxious to get an answer

"It managed to slip into the Citadel. Since then, the fleet has been preparing for its eventual departure. If no departure happens in 15 minutes then it could mean only two things. One, it has been killed, or Two, it is still alive and doesn't want to leave. If the former, then good. If the latter, then.. we may have to resort to classified operations"

Tali was going to ask about the operations, but put them aside, focusing on Shepard

"Open the Citadel, Captain" said Tali

"Why? Do you know how dangerous that could be? What if it were waiting for something like that to happen?"

"We know what that creature is Captain. We need to get to it quickly, and yes, we are fully aware of the risks"

After a brief pause, the Captain pushed into the matter

"How do you know what it is?"

"Captain, please. Every second we waste could cost the lives of several civilians and military personnel"

After another brief pause the Captain agreed and ordered a small section of the Citadels wings to be opened, leaving the Normandy to go inside.

In the council chambers, it was empty. No one heard the loud crash as Alpha made it into the chamber. As he landed he quickly raised himself, pistol at hand, and observed the area.

'Strange' he thought to himself, '... its empty'

He felt a throb course through his entire body

'The second phase' he thought to himself

He started limping around and still found no one except for the Keepers. He ignored them and started to slowly walk up the steps. As he reached the top he found the Councilors talking to each other.

"Well, well, well" said the amused Alpha.

"What do we have here? Three easy targets for the slaughter"

The councilors looked at him, a serious look in their eyes.

Alpha gave them a menacing glare before speaking

"Staying calm in the face of death? An admirable trait. Too bad you don't have many more" he said pointing his gun at the Turian councilor

The Turian councilor looked him in the eyes

"Were not the ones dying, creature"

Alpha looked at the Turian councilor and went through Shepard's memories, finding a small surprise

"Your not the Councilor"

As he finished talking, the gun in Alphas hands was shot out of it. He turned and saw a Turian with a sniper rifle in his hands. He then turned at the three councilors who unrobed themselves revealing armor. Also revealing that they were Spectres.

As he saw this he looked at the balcony seeing several dozen STG operatives. He turned around and found even more STG's uncloaking themselves. The entire chamber was filled with STG members, each having the look of several years of experience in them. Feeling the strongest pain enter his body, he smiled and looked at the 'councilors'

"You all have no idea what you in for" said Alpha, with pain in his voice. He started falling to his knees, his hands on his stomach.

Grabbing his assault riffle, the Turian Spectre pointed a finger at the alien and shouted,

"Take it down"

Giving a slight laugh, Alpha heard the click of weapons about to go off.

"Initiating Second Phase"

Shepard was still. His body lay in a void of darkness. Every time he tried to get up, he was met with pain. Every time he blinked, he heard the screams of people in his past. Mindoir. Akuze. Eden Prime. Theros. Noveria. The Citadel. All the places he had been in, All the places he had made tough decisions in haunted him.

He knew that Alpha has taken over his body, but never knew what was happening. He felt helpless. All of the people of his past and future and present needed him, but all he could do was lie down . There must be a weakness in the Symbiote

Images of people he knew flashed into his mind. Garrus, Wrex, Ashley, Kaiden, Anderson, Liara… It went blank from there. He knew he was forgetting something, someone maybe. Something or someone important. Part of his life was missing. No matter how much he tried, he always ended up with a large gap in between time.

Shepard tried hard to remember. It was as though that one memory would help him fight the symbiote. Help him in some way maybe. In his deep focus Shepard ended up finding himself in a large room. The room was nearly empty, aside from strange markings and objects that looked like lab equipment. He then realized that he was inside of a small glass case. He found this strange.

He heard noises. He turned and saw strange humanoid aliens move around. His first thought was that they were humans, but he notices many differences once he got a close look.

Their facial structure was more alien. Very complex bone structure. Their cheek bones showed greatly. One of them had a creature in its hands. A strange liquid alien that seemed to hiss and scurry in its glass cage. They spoke in a strange language. He then started hearing them in English, barely.

"…creature… our creation… greatest achievement… must never find out… names… Gamma, Beta, Epsilon…. Alpha"

Shepard noticed Alphas name and paid closer attention to the aliens.

"…ours… lead subject… will never work… only hope is control"

Shepard started listening as their words became even more clear.

"This Alpha will be the greatest of his kind. He will lead them into the future" the stange alien then looked at Shepard. Shepard then knew he was experiencing Alpha's memories.

The alien then put his attention back to his science partner.

"As I stated before, The only hope we have of a great future is if the host can control it. Nir'shamilya'palid, get over here"

Another strange alien entered the room staring at the two, what Shepard thought, scientists.

"Take the 'lyingerminsker' to the shuttle. The Reapers are coming soon. If were lucky then they will not find them. If they do, pray they don't know of its capabilities"

Shepard finally knew what they were

"Protheans" he muttered

"I still don't get it, Monhastkir. Why should the fate of the galaxy be put into the most dangerous and destructive creatures we have to offer?"

"It takes an unstoppable creature to stop another. Get all 210 of the lyingerminsker to the shuttles and send them into the ion nebula"

"Yes sir"

The memory quickly faded and Shepard found himself in a shuttle surrounded by growling and hissing liquid-ish creatures in glass cages. He himself was, yet again, in a glass case. The man in the pilots seat seemed to inject himself with something and started breathing heavily. After a while he then stopped breathing. Shepard looked around, uncertain as to what will happen.

The memory fast forwarded itself. He was still in the ship, but it started rocking itself. The hatch in the back of the shuttle broke open, revealing collectors. A Harbinger unit approached the inside of the ship.

Looking around, it observed the scene of several liquid like creatures and the remains of the pilot. He approached a creature and brushed the dust off of the symbol on top of the creatures cage

"…. Omega.." it muttered

He moved toward the pilot seat and activated the ship. The VI of the ship came online, barely managing to come online at all.

"We are Ghaladrihil and we will aid you in the information of the lyingerminsker, otherwise known as the creatures behind you"

Harbinger stood and watched the VI explain. The memory once again fast forwarded itself. He found himself inside of the collector ship. Again he was in a case, held by a Collector. Harbinger stood and opened a symbiotes case, unleashing it on a Collector.

The Collector slowly transformed into a heavily armored alien with spikes and claws. It then started wobbling left and right. It unleashed a quick screech of pain and ran in several directions, not caring what was in the way. It then slowed down and fell on the floor.

The lyingerminsker or 'symbiote' quickly came off of its host and started to shrivel up and die. The Harbinger unit turned to another life form. A Human. He unleashed the symbiote on the human, transforming him into what Alpha looked like in the first phase. This one stayed alive.

The Harbinger unit looked at the case and read its symbol. It copied the symbol and burned it onto the abdomen of the symbiote. It didn't do anything but stiffen as the laser imprinted its given name.

Once again his memory fast-forwarded, but not stopping. He saw images and scenes of symbiotes standing on piles of dead bodies. Symbiotes screaming, running, transforming, and finally dying. There were only few and he knew that the one that possessed him was… special.

Alpha didn't seem to stop. It seemed more durable and even more intelligent then his brethren, yet the fact that Shepard could fight it meant he was either equally or even more powerful then Alpha, at least mentally.

The strange sequence of events ended with Harbinger walking in a building. Making several turns. After a while it made one final turn revealing Shepard being held by several collectors. They grabbed his head and made him turn towards Harbinger.

Harbinger moved the case toward Shepard's face and opened it. The symbiote quickly attached itself to him and began the pained process of transformation.

Seeing the images fade, he returned his attention to find out what was missing in his memories. He tried and after a while only made out a vague shape. He then began the process of making out physical traits.

Alpha's red eyes 'closed' and it fell silent. Not taking any chances, the STG members started firing at the creature, unleashing all they had in their arsenal and in their pouches. Its 'armor' was chipping off, revealing black N7 armor. They were confused, but didn't stop firing. Alphas body was covered in bullets. The biotic Asari Spectre started lifting him up, making it more visible and able to be shot at.

Alpha's body started convulsing. Its head darted upward. His mouth shot open, releasing a pained screech. White cracks started showing all over its body. The Alpha symbol chipped off and was replaced by a complex, alien, letter. Black mist started exiting from the monster at an alarming rate.

The Spectres and all of the STG operatives were blinded by the darkness, now engulfing the whole room. The dark mist caused vision loss and they could barely make out any shape close to them. The Asari Spectre, who held the body biotically, was trying to hold it up when a sharp pain came from her hand, causing her to release it.

All of them started looking around themselves desperately, trying to find an ally or identify the creature. There was a noise. The noise sounded like heavy footsteps and metal bending at the same time. There was a scream, then a variety of screams. Each scream ended with the sound of an un-namable liquid falling to the floor, along with other objects.

The Turian Spectre adjusted his helmet on himself and started moving from his position. He signaled to the other two Spectres of his movements, and they acknowledged it. After making several steps he stepped on something. Looking down, his eyes widened. There was a mixture of organs on the floor, belonging to either Turian or Salarian, or both.

The Spectre looked around himself, screams filling the air. He tried to desperately make out anything, friend or foe. After a few second, he could feel panic creep into him. He radioed his Spectre friends, only to be welcomed by silence. Cursing to himself, he picked up his assault rifle and desperately tried to find the creature.

After swinging the assault rifle around himself several times, he found a face staring at him. The face radiated with dark energy. Before he could aim properly, the image faded back into the dark. He once again started aiming desperately. He started moving along a wall, not willing an attack to his back.

He heard a rough, demonic laughter. He guessed that he was seeing things because he saw the creature in several spots at the same time. The mist was starting to lift, slowly. Making out shapes near him, he found that all of the STG team members had been slain brutally.

The corpses had been mangled, crushed and separated. He then noticed the creature, glaring at him from a distance. He started frantically shooting it, cursing at it. The creature took slow, sinister steps towards him, making the floor's metal bend where it foot was placed.

The shots gave off loud thuds as they hit the creature, making no apparent damage. The creature continued its advance, dark energy radiating from its body, leaving streaks of dark energy behind it. Its eyes were glowing with a brilliant white color, along with several cracks on its body.

His transformation had made him look more beastly, yet more human. His symbiotic self tightened over his body and his armor. His arms were clearly muscular, now rimmed with spikes, all arching upwards. His legs were muscular as well, the spikes that lined them were now gone. His elbows had grown a slight blade on their tips, the tips arching upward. His helmet had tightened around his head as well, giving off his face's texture.

Overall, it looked as tough a tight thin black blanket had been thrown over his armored body and it attached to himself. His eyes had adopted the eyes of a collectors. Technically, the symbiotes 'eyes' were a visor screen to the host. The cracks that lined his body were glowing and convulsing with a brilliant white color, his body was jet black.

Its mouth was covered, as though it wore a mask, but its eyes were tight, to the point that its expressions can be made, and seen clearly. The white cracks were emitting a dark radiation.

It approached the Turian Spectre in a violent manner, growling in its own voice. Dark steaks of biotic powers were surrounding him. He approached the Turian and lifted him up biotically. He brought the Turian towards him and released him from his biotic hold only to be caught by the creature by its hands on his throat.

"What are you?" he managed to choke out.

It stared at him, making an amused expression before resuming its angry expression

"I" It announced in Sovereigns voice.

"am the herald of your destruction, the new symbol of annihilation and _your_ killer"

Before continuing, he strengthened his grip on the Turians neck.

"I had been a symbol towards your Galaxy and will resume to call myself that. I was the suvivor of Mindoir, The Survivor of Akuze, The Hero of the Citadel, The Slayer of Reapers"

He increased his grip. The Turian was almost dead.

"I" he snarled.

"am your Commander Shepard"

There was a loud snap.

Tali and the crew decided against docking the Normandy. They quickly went to the Presidium and landed near the embassy's. The entire area had been cleared on account of the alien.

Tali, Grunt and Garrus once again left the Normandy, along with an additional team consisting of Samara, Jack and Miranda. Their biotic powers would come in handy for their mission.

"Thanks Joker," said Tali, ", go to the docking bay, but be prepared in case of an emergency"

"Yeah, yeah… you know, your starting to sound like Shepard"

Tali stayed silent, but Joker could tell that, were she on the ship, she was glaring at him.

Joker sighed, "I'm off"

As the Normandy left, Tali gathered the group and started describing the plan.

"All right. When we come into contact with Shepard I want you all to force him into submission" she said pointing to the three biotics.

"Am what if we cant?" asked Samara, calmly.

"Try to hold him off with biotic attacks. All right Garrus will give fire support," Garrus nodded , "and Grunt will fire the weapon, point blank if you can" Grunt grinned.

"I owe my Battlemaster a little payback. I'm looking… forward to it", he said, cracking his neck.

Tali continued, "If it comes down to melee combat I want Garrus and Grunt to try to hold him still while someone manages to inject him with the weapon" Everyone nodded in agreement.

Mordin called in urgently through the comm.

"TALI!"

Tali jumped at his shout.

"What?"

"Anti-symbiote weapon not enough, will need you to bring Shepard onboard as soon as you administer the shot"

"WHAT? Why?"

Mordin stalled

"Better if you don't know"

Tali was going to say something when the line went flat. She stood still, thinking of what Mordin had just said. Uneasily, she gave out her command

"Move out"

Grunt was wearing a heavy form of armor. The fact that he would have to get close to Shepard alone meant that he would need a heavily reinforced set of armor, aside from the fact that his old set was already heavy armor.

They proceeded to the elevator when weapons fell around them. They looked upward and saw, in horror, several C-Sec officers falling from the building, most of them dead. Shepard came, jumping out of the building from several thousand feet.

In his hands, he held a scared C-Sec recruit. The recruit was falling, his back against the floor. They crashed on the walk-way near the mass relay statue. Shepard rose up and slowly turned its head, looking at the six compatriots

He stared at them for a while, then at the Krogan, a surprised look on its face.

"Still alive?" he said, his voice still in perfect synchronization with Shepard's. It laughed.

"Not for long"

Tali was focusing on his new features. His bodies new form was strong and agile, along with being powerful. She ignored it as she noticed him approaching them.

He started moving towards them when a dozen gunship's approached him. He turned to look at one before they all fired at him. The fire had no effect, but it pushed him back, due to their force. He grunted and tilted his head.

A gunship lost control as it was surrounded by black biotic powers. It was forced to crash along another gunship. Shepard was about to do the same thing to the others, when he was rammed by one of the ships.

He looked at the pilot, surprised to see a Batarian. Ignoring this surprise, he gripped the hood of the gunship. Using a small amount of strength, he tore off the front of the gunship, reached for the pilot and killed him with a biotic blast at point blank.

The gunship, while this was happening, fell downward. It exploded in a blaze of fire. The group saw this from a distance. They were going to advance to it when several dozen C-Sec and STG members stormed past them, heading for the crash site.

The people formed a defensive wall around the crash site. Many were nervous. As the blaze grew, they made out a figure. Shepard walked out of the fire. His body was on fire, but he didn't feel anything. He looked at the people surrounding him.

"Haven't you all learned nothing?" he said, acknowledging everyone in the Presidium

"I cannot be killed by your conventional weapons. Do yourselves a favor and prey your deaths will be quick"

All of them, not hesitating, fired upon the creature. The spot were Shepard stood was barraged by rocket launchers, SMG rounds, pistol shots, assault rifle rounds and grenade launcher rounds. As they fires, they saw him standing, an amused look on its face.

"Insolent creatures" he muttered

He stomped a foot, creating a earthquake-like reaction around the Presidium grounds. Raising a hand, he dug into the floor of were he stood, and scooped up the plate of metal that was part of the floor.

Using it, he threw it at a group of troops, killing them on contact. He turned to look at the others and, pointing both his hands at them, sent a biotic field of energy coursing through them, launching them what could have been several kilometers if they hadn't made contact with the building behind them.

Reaching for his beam rifle, he activated it and sent the beam through the remaining troops. They were sliced in the order they were standing. It sliced through them like a knife, so they were still alive when their torso fell from their lower half.

The area's power had shut down. Aside from feign lighting, red 'emergency' lights flashed on and off.

He aimed at the remaining gunship's and shot them out of the sky. He turned to walk away when he remembered the group of six who he was going to kill. He turned and found them standing before him.

Everyone watched as it stood in front of them. Half of its face was lighted by the red light, the other half consumed by darkness.

Tali couldn't believe how fast the battle ended. It only lasted around 15 seconds. She quickly remembered where she was and signaled to Garrus. She hated doing this to Shepard… no not Shepard. A creature. She tried reminding herself that the creature wasn't Shepard, but something else. She couldn't manage to do so. No matter how hard she tried, she KNEW it was Shepard.

She put the thought aside and focused on saving him. The signal she gave Garrus was one for close quarters combat. Garrus signaled Grunt, who simply laughed silently.

Shepard smiled in admiration. They truly were brave… guess that's how their gonna die also. He raised his beam rifle, only to have it kicked from his hands by Tali, who ran towards him faster then he thought she would be capable of running.

He recoiled at the surprise, but quickly glowed black, his biotic powers surfacing through his veins and cracks in his skin. Before he could use his biotics, he was charged by Grunt.

Grunt pinned him down and shouted at the three biotics. They surrounded Shepard in blue biotic powers, restraining him from moving. He simply laughed as the biotics were surrounded by his black biotic powers.

Tali stared at her biotic friends, then back at Shepard.

"…how?" she asked, confused

Shepard stood up, laughing.

She stared at him. It made her sad and angry. 'What has he become?'

"My powers have evolved to the point that I don't even have to move to use my biotics"

He stared at the three biotics and laughed again. He raised his hand and slowly started curling it. Though he could kill them without raising his hand, he couldn't resist showing them how their life was in his hands, literally.

He laughed as they started grunting and whimpering in pain. Before he could continue, he was once again attacked by Grunt. Tali focused back on the fight and joined in along with Garrus. The three other biotics fell to the floor but quickly stood back up, waiting for a chance to hold Shepard still, Except for Jack who ran into the battle.

Shepard was moving backwards as Grunt punched him in the face several times. He raised his hands in an attempt to grab his next punch, but it was kicked to the side by Garrus, who was pushing him downward.

He moved himself far from the group and advanced. Garrus moved from the left, Tali from the right and Grunt from the front. He liked the challenge. Grunt lunged in to punch him, but Shepard pushed the hand to the side. He kneed Grunt in the stomach and raised his elbow blade to give a killing blow when Tali grabbed his arm and kneed him in the stomach.

He lunged forward, feeling the attack.

'Why do I feel fragile around this one?' he thought to himself. Searching his host's memories, he received his answer. He would have to remove her quickly.

Moving to attack her, he didn't notice Grunt get back up. Grunt punched the back of Shepard's head and he responded by turning to attack Grunt. Garrus leapt from behind Grunt and kicked him in the face. He staggered backwards. Jack biotically punched him in an uppercut form, making him go upward. As he fell, she biotically kicked him toward Grunt.

Grunt caught Shepard with one hand and threw him on the floor. Shepard caught Grunts hand as he tried to punch him. Shepard started crushing Grunts hand. Grunt, in turn, lifted him up and back down. Once Shepard's grip was loose, he move back.

Shepard stood up faster then anyone thought possible and tackled Grunt, pushing him through a wall and into a bar. Almost as though on cue, metal music started on the bar's speakers. Finally releasing Grunt, Shepard screeched, breaking every glass in the bar. The party lights flickered on and off. His body was illuminated be several dark colors.

Everyone outside looked at him. He slowly turned to face them. Purple lights flickered against the left side of his face, the right was dark save for his brilliant white eyes and cracks. Shepard sprinted, leaving a thunderous noise where he once stood.

He appeared in front of Garrus. He punched him in the gut, kneed him in the stomach and, raising him by his neck, slammed him against the solid floor.

Turning his attention towards Jack, he assaulted her. He punched her on the right side of her face.

Using his abilities, he raised Samara and Miranda while doing this.

Falling sideways on one hand, he kicked Jack in the face. Following this he grabbed her leg and, lifting her up by it, swung her downward. As he did this, he forced Samara and Miranda to do the same.

Shepard turned to face Tali. Once again, he couldn't use his powers against her. Being near her made him weak, made him vulnerable. He hated it.

Garrus and the others were slowly starting to stand once more.

Shepard moved towards her. Tali couldn't believe how fast he had defeated her team. How fast he made them submit. This isn't Shepard. it's a thing. The thought rang through her head. It made sense in her head, but not in her heart.

Shepard approached her more and raised a hand. Garrus, limping towards them at a running pace, quickly grabbed it.

Shepard glared at him. He quickly brought up his arm from where it had been and slammed the bottom of Garrus' jaw with the bottom of his palm.

As Garrus' head shot upward from the attack, Shepard kicked the Turians leg backwards, making him fall. As he was falling, Shepard kneed him in the chin again, launching him upward. As he was going upward, he was caught by his neck.

He stared down to look at Shepard in the eyes.

Shepard laughed.

"You never stood a chance to begin with. Not you, nor Commander Shepard" he stated, demonically altering his voice.

"All his attempts to escape my grasp have failed, just as your attempts to stop me, have failed" he chuckled

"And now" he whispered, reaching for a shard metallic stick that used to be part of a gunship. He raised it in front of Garrus.

"You. Will. DIE"

In a quick movement. Garrus gasped loudly. Tali screamed. The rest of the team around them looked up. There was a sharp rod through Garrus' chest.

Shepard laughed, pulling and pushing the rod back and forth, sometimes wiggling it up and down.

Garrus choked out blood. Looking at him, he managed to whisper in pain.

"Sh-Shepard"

Laughing, he threw Garrus' body to the floor. He moved quickly and grasped Tali by her neck. She clawed at his arm. He raised his clawed hand, reaching for her visor.

Alpha talked to itself, acknowledging Shepard.

"Is there anything more painful, then seeing those you love,"

He clicked Tali's mask open and threw her mask away.

"Die"

He raised his other arm and pointed it at her face, a ball of biotic energy appearing in it.

Grunt, who charged as soon as he could stand, quickly grabbed that hand. He quickly grabbed the other hand and pulled them back violently.

Shepard started to forcibly move his hands, but couldn't move as the three biotics quickly overpowered him with their biotics.

Jack Samara and Miranda slowly stood up, each with an arm pointed at Shepard.

Grunt, with one hand, threw the anti-symbiote weapon at Tali.

Tali looked at him, confused at how fast the tables had turned.

"Shoot him!" shouted Garrus

Tali jumped at his voice. She looked over to him. Then at the weapon.

Tali picked it up, but hesitated. She forced herself to hurry. She approached Shepard.

Before she could pull the trigger he whispered in Shepard's voice

"…Tali"

She hesitated even more, her eyes widening tearfully at his naming of her. She tried, in vain, to ignored it, but couldn't help but whisper,

"…sorry"

She shot the syringe at point blank, into its neck. He released a very devilish screech as it felt its contents go through his armor and into his host. The syringe was soon emptied. He moaned loudly in pain.

Grunt let go of him and moved, with Tali, a safe distance. Tali, at this time, picked up Garrus. For the moment, it was dangerous to try and remove the rod.. The three biotics held him where he was, ensuring safe passage to their friends. Shepard started convulsing. Tali and the group looked at him as his bright, luminous eyes shut down, and his body seemed to go limp.

"Did it work?" asked Garrus, heavily panting.

"…I…I don't know" answered Tali.

Before they could get up to get their answer, Shepard 'woke up' in a haze of dark energy. Before the three biotics could do anything, they were violently shot backwards. Shepard screeched at the top of its lungs, making several windows from several buildings nearby break.

He stood up and violently advanced towards Tali. Tali, Grunt and Garrus hastily ran from their cover, only to be met be a black field of biotic energy. Shepard advanced towards them. His advance was stopped by a strange noise coming from him. He felt something course though him. He attempted another step, but was forced down to his knee's. He let out growls of pain, holding his head.

"IMPOSSIBLE" he yelled, stretching his arms outward to the left and the right. His screams turned into shrieks as he fought off the assailant.

It had took'n Shepard a long time to figure out what the shape was. He pieced it together, slowly. He finally put the pieces together, faced with one final question.

"Who are you?"

He searched his memories. Several feign images came to life, several memories played. Only few actually mattered. A memory of Garrus flashed in his mind

"Hey commander, _ wanted to see you. She wants you help on something on the -tilla. She says its urgent"

Shepard thought to himself , '… tilla?'

He felt a sharp pain in his head. His mind was racing for another clue. An image of the Presidium flashed into his mind. The image started to play. It showed Garrus and Tali talking to each other, Shepard watching them from the corner of his eye.

"Hey -ali, how weak is you immune system again?"

"… very weak"

"That's not an answer"

"You want an answer?"

"Yes please" asked Garrus, in a child-like tone

"I have a shotgun"

"… I see that this is not something we should be talking about. Maybe later?"

"…"

"…okay"

'-ali? …. DAMN IT' he though to himself

'Something that ends with -ali… what the hell is it…'

He felt a strong pain come into his head once more, making him moan in pain. This one sent him out of control. He saw images of the strange alien female surround his head. Images of times they shared, times of sorrow, times of love. He was screaming to himself at the pain of the rush of memories

Figures of several people surrounded him, each one passing him as they each said one word.

"Commander" - Garrus

"you" - Joker

"need" - Chakwas

"to" - Liara

"remember" - Toombs

There was another sharp pain in his head.

"Remember" - Gabby

"the" - Gardner

"love" - Ken

The name started unfolding.

"Remember" - Kaiden

"the" - Thane

"Past" - Jack

His meeting with her in the alley showed up.

"Remember" Grunt

"the" - EDI

"Passion" - Anderson

Their time spent before the Omega 4 relay launch appeared.

"Remember" - Benezia

"the" - Wrex

"Events" - Saren

The time she found her father, dead. He hugged her, telling her it was okay.

"Remember" - Shala'Raan

"the" - Han'Gerrel

"Struggles" - Veetor

Shepard finally unfolded her name, seeing it as it was once again burned into his mind.

"Remember" - Rael'Zorah

"Me" - Tali'Zorah

It all came back to him. Tali. Several voices of several people who mentioned Tali stormed his head. He saw it clearly. Their meeting, the destruction of the Normandy, meeting her again on Freedoms Progress. Again at Haestrom. Helping her at the trial. The images quickly flooded his mind, along with the memories. The dark void disappeared violently fast and, in its place was the Presidium, him surrounded by people. Dead people. And in front of him, a little far away, was Garrus, Grunt and Tali.

As Shepard screeched, the light started flicker on and off from his body rapidly. The white cracks slowly turned silver, then back to white. His eyes did the same and his body shook violently.

As his body shook, several pieces of the surrounding area started floating around him. Weapons, ammo and public benches floated around him as dark biotic mist appeared around the objects. Several object that were bolted to the ground were violently picked up and joined the floating objects. Its screech was never ending, continuing throughout the strange process.

Tali signaled Grunt and Jack. They ran towards it. While they moved, Tali called Joker.

"Joker, we have Shepard. Bring in the Normandy to these coordinates as fast as you can!"

Joker shot up from his relaxed position on the helm of the ship and, pressing several buttons fast, activated the Normandy and moved out fast.

"On my way"

Jack and Grunt couldn't get close enough. Shepard, at this point, was holding his neck with both hands as though choking.

The once covered mouth was now becoming visible. He had his Vorcha-like teeth in its place. He gave a great screech at the pain, the symbiotes mouth opened more then anyone thought possible. It was open by seven inches and slowly growing. The symbiotes screech only grew in volume and strength.

It fell forward greatly, both hands balled up. When the fists hit the floor, the entire section had broken. When something unexpected happened. The screech transformed into a mixture of Harbinger/Shepard's voice

"RAAAA-getttt.. outttawWWWwwffffff " he finished the sentence, his teeth clenched violently.

As the Normandy came into view, Jack and Grunt jumped themselves into the field of flying debris. Grabbing him, they moved themselves forward . Eventually, to their surprise, the flying objects stopped and all that was left was a screaming Shepard. They pulled him onboard, Tali following them along with Samara Miranda and Garrus.

Before she came onboard, she remembered her visor. She thanked the fact that she had given herself extra strength antibiotics before and during the battle. Grabbing it, she found a crack run through it. It could easily be repaired, and it wasn't too damaged. She could still wear it. She readjusted it and ran to the Normandy.


	12. Procedure

Plot: Shepard's Return

The Story Now

Shepard was still screaming. As Tali and the team entered the Normandy they saw Mordin and the medical team put Shepard in a gurney with several restraints.

"What's happening!" yelled Tali, worry in her voice

They ignored her. The Team had been told to remain as silent as possible. They headed to the elevator, Mordin in hot pursuit. Tali moved to join them but they quickly closed the elevator and moved to deck three.

As they exited, they moved Shepard to the medical bay.

Chakwas moved towards Garrus, looking at the rod.

"What happ- never mind"

She searched through her medical kit and pulled out a needle. She injected its contents into Garrus though his skin near where the rod was. He jerked in pain. He then stood, surprised. He felt numb all over. He looked at Chakwas.

"Special Turian Medi-Gel" she stated. Showing him the syringe, she added, "With a little Chakwas magic"

He gave a Turian smile at her, and an appreciative nod.

"Were gonna have to remove it when he have the chance, right now its all about Shepard" she stated

Tali was still in the cargo bay, waiting for a chance to follow the team. As the elevator became vacant they pressed the button and waited for it to arrive, impatiently.

As the elevator came to their floor, they entered it quickly. Tali was bouncing on her toes, Garrus gave her a worried look. She was overly nervous about what was going on.

As they exited the elevator, they turned to enter the medical bay only to be met by a wall of bodies. The entire crew had crowded around the Medical bay's windows. Tali could hear screaming.

She moved to Grunt, looked at him and pointed towards the med bay doors.

"Clear" she commanded. He gave a surprised and respectful nod.

He yelled at the top of his lungs. Most of everyone turned to look at him and were scared. He was charging at the door. Everyone moved out of the way s fast as they could. Grunt hit the door, disappointed that he didn't hit anyone. The team entered the room.

Tali was the first to enter. What she saw only made her heart sink.

Mordin was over Shepard with several needles to his side, each filled with a strange colored liquid. Shepard was in heavy restraints.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM!" Tali screamed.

"Friend contacted me. Will be… difficult for him, but only way to help remove symbiote" Mordin stated halfheartedly, a sad look on his face.

"Syringe first injected by you will help this procedure. Will increase chances of success"

Tali knocked the needle away, standing beside Shepard, who was screaming and moaning in pain.

"NO MORE NEEDLES MORDIN! He's been through enough!" Tali choked out.

"Please understand. Either risk him being consumed, or risk saving his life by trying to cure him" stated Mordin.

Tali looked at him, then Shepard. Balling up her fists she moved to the side.

Mordin gave an appreciative nod and moved towards Shepard.

"Initial syringe should have weakened flesh. Should be able to administer shots" he stated.

Tali looked at Shepard as it was inserted into his body. He was in pain. She kept herself from crying so far, but the feeling was starting to over power her.

Another needle. Shepard screamed in his voice this time. Was it working?

Another. Another. Another. Shepard was gritting his teeth. They started forming back to how they used to be, nice and human.

Then it started.

He was crying in pain. Tears managed to break through the symbiotes eyes. In between his sobs he cried out silently through clenched teeth.

"T-T-Tali"

She teared. She ran to his side. She lay a hand on his chest and gently placed the other over one of his balled up fist, shaking.

"Shepard" she choked out "I'm here Shepard"

His head slowly turned to look at her. Even with needles in his body and pain in his veins, he managed to smile.

Another needle. He screamed a painful scream. It was a human scream. His eyes shut forcibly. The contents of the needles burned him inside.

Several needles were injected into him. He never stopped squirming in his restraints. Once Mordin confirmed that he was weak enough, Tali held his hand. Though he squeezed on it tightly, Tali didn't flinch.

Shepard kept looking at her. She did the same. He was gritting his teeth all the time, painful moans coming from his mouth. He managed to smile a few times at her, before returning to the pained look he held most of the time.

He started slowing down. His violent movements slowly turned into slow movements. Tali thought the contents were working. Then a fearful noise coursed through the room. Everyone jumped and most quickly looked distressed.

"He's flat lining!" shouted one of the staff.

Mordin moved Tali back. He forced her hand to let go of Shepard's.

Using one of the machines in the bay, they moved it over Shepard's body. Its four 'fingers' expanded then touched where his heart was and sent a course of electricity running through him.

His body jumped.

Another jolt.

Another jump.

Another jolt.

Another jump.

Tali moved from where she stood. She was stiff. Her face emotionless. Garrus moved towards her wearily. Grabbing her by her shoulders, he moved her out of the med bay.

Another jolt.

Another jump.

They moved towards the elevator, past the crowd of people.

Another jolt.

Another jump.

Tali quickly turned and faced Garrus. Embracing him with all her strength, minding the rod still in his chest, she let out loud sobs. Garrus, filled with surprise, only patted her back.

Another jolt.

Another jump.

The crew only heard the electricity and the jumping of Shepard's body, along with Tali's sobs.

After repeated surges, was the loud and melancholy sound of a flat line coursing through the ships deck.


	13. Aftermath

Pot: surprise

The Story Now:

There was a nice green field. In it was Tali and Shepard. She wasn't wearing her mask and Shepard's head was laid on her lap. She was staring at him, he was doing the same. The time seemed perfect. They were alone. She was happy. They lived on Rannoch. It was perfect. But it didn't last.

The dream faded away. Tali, the events coming back to her, cried on her pillow. It wasn't fair. How could it happen again. Just like last time, it was only a short while after completing a mission before he was killed again. Her sobs rang through the cabin

Two days had passed since Shepard's death. His body remained in the Medical Bay. Its posture and body unmoving. To the doctors surprise, it hadn't shown any sign of decay, even death. It just looked like a statue.

Mordin continued to administer shots, hoping to at least be able to rid the symbiote off of Shepard's body. Everyone on the ship had time alone with the corpse, each saying tearful farewells and reveling on past memories.

Garrus left his sniper rifle at the side of the Commanders body. The rod had been took'n out of his body soon after the events. Garrus moved around a lot. He couldn't get the idea of Shepard being dead through him. He hit the walls several times, clenched his fists and even stomped his way to several places. This was even worse then when he had lost his team.

Mordin kept to himself, blaming it all on him. Shepard's death could have been avoided had he chosen not to give him the shots. Though in any other event Mordin would have pushed this past him by now, but Shepard's case was unique. He had caused the death of the Galaxies possible savior. It hit him like a thousand balls of biotic energy. All he could think about was how much pain he caused.

Grunt gave Shepard a Krogan warriors emblem. According to Krogan records, Shepard is the first to receive it. The emblem was only given to Krogans of high importance. It was given only after their death. To give it to someone outside of your species was unheard of, until now.

Thane gave Shepard a solemn prayer, the longest he has ever give. It took nearly four hours for the prayer to finish. To everyone who watched and attended, they though it was completely worth it, though Shepard deserved much more.

Jack only managed to talk for a few seconds before storming off, talking about possible things that could have happened and cursing Shepard for leaving them this early after the Collectors base destruction.

Samara gave Shepard a prayer, along with Thane, and her Justicar emblem, along with her armors head piece.

Miranda and Jacob didn't come near the place, making their own forms of farewells secretly.

Miranda stayed quiet, but everyone knew that she was sad, even through her cold icy glare.

Jacob cleaned the rifles. He acted as normal as he could, but it didn't work. Many times he walked to a corner, sat in a chair, stood in the dark. All of those times, many people could heat him whisper, "Why?"

Legion left the piece of N7 armor he wore next to Shepard. His people didn't believe in ceremonies, but believed that someone like Shepard deserved one, even by Geth standards. All of the platforms, new and old, agreed upon this.

The remainder of the crew left their own things. Personal belongings, letters, notes.

Tali took it harder then everyone. She hadn't left the cabin in those days. She couldn't bare to look at his body, let alone stand in the same deck. Gardner, Joker and Chakwas each took turns in delivering her food tubes. Those who slept close to the cabins quarters could hear the Quarians sobs through the steel walls.

Tali, on the third day, finally managed to 'speak' to him. He shakily stepped out of the elevator and slowly moved towards to Med Bay.

The door opened. She held back her tears. Upon seeing all the gifts, she shed one.

"S-s-s-Shepard" she said shakily "I'm.. I'm here for you"

She stared into his life-less symbiotic eyes. Her vision became blurry as tears started creeping into her eyes.

"ITS NOT FAIR!" she shouted, tears rolling down her eyes.

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ME? WHY AFTER SAVING THE GALAXY AND COMING BACK, DO YOU LEAVE ALMOST AS QUICKLY? WHY…Why…why" she sank to the floor, tears rolling down her face, repeating 'Why'.

After regaining her composure, she slowly moved up to his body. She was still shaking. She hesitated, but grabbed his cheek. She slowly gave a sad smile. Even though his body was consumed by this monster, he looked peaceful.

She lunged downward and lay her torso on his body. It was the last time she would be able to do this. The records stated Shepard as MIA. They couldn't reveal that the assault on the Citadel was Shepard's doing. Like in her father's situation, they would brand him a traitor. Like he fathers situation, they would put him in cautionary tales for children. They couldn't understand the substance that consumed him. Only they, the crew of the Normandy, understood. She thanked Shepard for not giving them the data. She also thanked him for not making her into an exile.

They never reported Shepard to the council. It was a secret that the crew would have to keep, along with certain individuals.

She laid on his body. The Med Bay's windows were darkened. No one outside could see what was happening. She put a hand on his chest, the other on his waist.

She decided to risk it. This was probably the last time she would see him. She removed her visor slowly. She lunged forward and, closing her eyes, planted a kiss on his forehead. She smiled, remembering the times they shared, their adventures. As she moved her head up, a tear fell onto his forehead.

She put her visor back on. She would have a terrible time getting over it, if she could even get over it. Giving a tearful sigh. She moved away. She moved towards the door. It opened. She stopped at the door.

She regretted never telling him what she wanted to the time they last separated. She regretted never being able to tell him even. The thing that she wanted to tell him for so long. At least she could tell him now.

Turning, she looked directly at his life-less symbiotic eyes and gave a tearful whisper.

"I love you"

The door closed behind her, leaving a dark room, and a body behind her.


	14. Ressurection

Plot: Surprise

The Story Now:

Tali sank back in her bed. She was crying once more, repeating Shepard's name silently.

-4 hours later-

Everyone was sadly reporting to their duties. Chakwas was solemnly at a table, staring at her food. Gardner was making food. More gumbo.

Mordin was giving Shepard another set of shots. The symbiote was clearly starting to evaporate from his body. No one bothered to move anything from the day he died. The heart beat sensor was still on, though the volume was lowered greatly.

Tali was with him. She couldn't stand being alone anymore. Even though it was a corpse, it was all that was left of the man she loved.

Mordin moved away from the body and to his case of vials. He gave a large sigh.

"Am sorry Shepard" he said, almost in a whisper.

"Its not your fault Mordin" Tali said.

Mordin shook his head.

"Went with the procedure. Did it myself. I AM TO BLAME" he stated almost as though he had been asked the question many times.

Tali just stared at him and gave a sad, understanding nod.

Mordin sighed once more and returned to his syringes.

He started cleaning them.

Tali glanced over Shepard's body. She sadly smiled. She returned her gaze to Mordin.

Beep

Mordin and Tali jumped. They looked around. There was nothing. They sighed again.

'It must have been a malfunctioning device' they though.

A few seconds passed.

Beep

This time they weren't imagining it. They both turned to face the machine. A few seconds passed before they slowly turned back around. Mordin was completely turned. Tali wasn't. She saw it. The unexpected rise, then fall.

Beep

Mordin stopped.

Beep

It was happening. It was really happening.

Beep

Beep

Beep

Tali's mind raced. She uttered a few words.

"I-I-Impossible!"

The Beeps came at a steady pace. As if their suspicions had been correct, Shepard's stomach started rising then falling.

Mordin's jaw opened in amazement. Tali was standing in disbelief. Mordin shot past her. He ran up to a monitor and pressed several buttons.

"Life Signs Normal. Heart Rate Rising Steadily. Brain Activity Normal. TALI GET CHAKWAS!" he shouted.

Tali didn't move for a few seconds. She then ran out of the room. She saw Chakwas on the table. She looked sad. Tali grabbed her by her arm and tugged.

"Tali, dear, what's gotten into you?" asked Chakwas.

"ITS SHEPARD!" Tali yelled.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"HES ALIVE!"

As though It were a call to eat food on a ship that suffered from malnourishment, every door opened. Everyone within earshot's distance looked at her in disbelief. Chakwas was the first to recover.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" she yelled, pushing Tali to the side.

Tali ran after Chakwas. She stood beside her and Mordin as they checked Shepard's vitals. She was crying and bouncing on her toes again. Tears of joy flooding her face.

Everyone once again flooded the deck. Few moved towards elevator and maintenance shafts to spread the news. The Normandy was abuzz with the news. The entire third deck was flooded with people. It happened before and it happened again. Shepard was back.

**A/N: How did it happen? That will be explained in the next chapter.**

**I do not mean to broadcast any form of entertainment to anyone, but highly recommend a song if you really want a sad moment to be right. To authors, listen to this song while writing a sad moment. If it makes ya tear, then you know its working. **

**Sadness and Sorrow v.2 **

**By: BlazingDragon**


	15. Awaken

Plot: Awaken

The Story Now:

The Normandy had a large surge of hope and relief. Since Shepard's 'return' the Normandy was once again lively.

Three days have passed since then. Now, the Normandy was dark. Its crew asleep and no one awake on deck three, Tali decided to visit him.

She walked out of the elevator and into the Med Bay.

She heard the noise of a flat line. Sprinting, she ran towards where Shepard was, only he wasn't there.

Alarmed, she looked left and right, trying to see him. She noticed a few scratches leading from the medical bed to the door.

Following these marks, she lead herself away from the Med bay and found herself at the kitchen. Finding that Gardner's food stores had been raided, she followed the mess of wrappers and food peelings to the Engine room.

Once there she found the traces of food disappearing. She found the marks becoming less lined and more segmented. As it would appear, Shepard was crawling at first. By now he was walking.

Following the markings and their only possible approach zone, Tali entered the elevator and pressed CIC.

1 minute later.

Tali ran out to CIC and was surprised to find hat everyone but Joker was asleep. Ignoring him at the moment, Tali ran to the Armory.

Upon entering the marks lead from a vent to the desk. She spotted marks on the desks.

Following the marks once more, she followed the marks from the armory to the science lab. What she found was that Shepard had also raided the science cabinets. Several vials were missing.

Following the marks, she noticed them leave the room and head for the emergency elevator hatch. There was only one place where he could have gone now.

"The Cabin..."

Running to the elevator, Tali pressed the Cabin and waited once more for the elevator to stop at the appointed floor.

1 minute later.

Tali pulled out her pistol and swung it left to right upon exiting the elevator. She neared the door and increased her audio frequencies. She heard grunts.

Gripping her pistol even further, she opened the door and aimed at the figure in front oh her. Her pistol dropped from her hands. Her eyes widened. Her mouth flew open.

It was Shepard at the foot of the bed. Not a symbiote over him, not a murderous creature hell-bent on destruction, but Shepard.

His light beard showed his chin. His nice nose glistened with the light of the fish tank. His light green eyes moved to meet hers. His naturally tanned skin showed itself.

He looked at her. It wasn't a dream. He was physically in front of her.

"She-... Shepard?"

He looked at her.

"..Tali."

His voice came, unobstructed by his symbiotic voice. It really was him.

"How's the Normandy be-"

He never finished his question. Tali ran up to him and threw him against the bed. In surprise, he yelped. As he registered her body, he gave a short chuckle. He put both hands on her back and moved them back and forth.

She shuddered at his familiar feel. She gasped to the feel of his chuckle vibrating through her chest.

"Its me Tali. Its me." he whispered gently.

Quickly removing her visor, she met her lips against his.

Once again surprised, Shepard took a while to return the gesture.

They didn't stop. They kissed for 11 consecutive seconds. After a while, Shepard, much to his dismay, pulled Tali from him.

"What a thoughtful welcome home gift." he said, catching his breath. When they weren't kissing, Tali only held him in her arms, an incredible grip forming.

He chuckled. "Call Mordin. We have allot to talk about."

...

When Mordin entered the room, he was as speechless as Tali.

"How?"

"Relax Mordin." said Shepard. "I'll explain."

Mordin took a seat beside Shepard's bedside. Tali sat on Shepard's lap, still hugging him.

"To start off, thank you for everything you've done" he said.

Mordin nodded.

"Okay. When you injected me with those substances, which hurt like fire in my bloodstream by the way, it actually helped. I'm mentioning this so you can get any guilt, if any, out of you." he said.

Mordin gave an appreciative nod.

"How did you survive? Had no pulse in over two days. By those measures, were sure you were clinically dead." reported Mordin.

"That's another story. You see, in those two days I was being 'repaired'."

"Explain."

"The symbiote had many powers. To increase strength and durability, he had to make additional organs. Organs that were just as strong. Lets take my muscles for example. To keep up his incredible strength, Alpha needed more mass in my muscles." he explained. Mordin gave an interested hum.

"So, in order to do that, he made incredibly small tissue layers of muscle on top of my already existing muscle tissues. These tissues were significantly smaller then my natural muscle tissues, but were just as strong as the muscles themselves." he reported. Mordin nodded.

"Makes sense. To have that much power with hosts existing organs would kill it. Smart."

"Anyways, in those two days I was like a robot. No heart beat, no pulse, no signs of life. This was because my body was getting rid of the no longer needed extra organs. The tissues were being removed. That is why I was de-...asleep."

Mordin nodded.

"How did you come to know this?" asked Mordin.

"Well, I've adopted Alphas knowledge and lets just say that I am smarter then you. At least ten fold." he reported.

"Really? Assumption or educated guess?"

"Its a fact. However, my knowledge is only temporary. I should have this knowledge in my head for the next twelve days before it starts to show any signs if dissipation." reported Shepard.

Mordin nodded.

"Only my better for a few days. Can live with that."

Shepard chuckled.

Tali looked at him.

"What about the symbiote?"

Shepard turned to look at her. Taking her off of him, he approached his desk. Opening a drawer, he took out a glass case containing a small and very dark liquid-like creature.

Mordin approached it.

"Ahh. Symbiote in container."

"That's right Mordin. With my knew knowledge, however, it will not be able to be killed." said Shepard somewhat sadly.

"Why?" inquired Mordin.

"Just wont. Blasting it towards the nearest sun will do nothing. Its outer skin layer, though soft, is more durable then ten thousand diamonds. I cant say the same for other symbiotes, though. Alpha was made as the perfect symbiote. As a result, he has all of the powers of the other 200 and some symbiotes. As a consequence, his host needs to be strong willed or it will go on a rampage for its 'masters'."

"True."

"The symbiotes have declared the Reapers as their masters. Why? I dont know. Maybe some form of indoctrniation or somethin. All i know is that theres no symbiote in the galaxy who doesnt acknoeledge the Reapers as their masters." he declared, eyeing the substance in the glass. "There is, however, a way to kill them almost instantly."

Mordin and Tali lunged at him, interested.

"The only way I know of is by the Collectors. Along with his knowledge, I have taken his memories. They should have an emergency symbiote eradicator in case a symbiote goes rogue. either that or a beam directly from a Reaper will kill it. Along with the host, might I add."

Mordin nodded once more.

"What to do with it now?"

"I will keep it in the armory. I know of a place no one knows of and I will get rid of it when we find the appropriate weapons."

Mordin nodded.

"How did you take it off of you?" asked Tali, still on the bed.

Shepard turned to her.

"It wasn't easy. Easier then transforming, but just as painful, though I don't remember screaming or grunting. Only moaning in pain. It fell off of me much like water does, but slowly." he explained. "After it was mostly off of me, i reached for the haz-mat control unit on the wall, took the case and put it inside. It doesn't seem happy."

Tali nodded in understanding.

Shepard turned to Mordin.

"Get to Joker. Tell him to put in these coordinated and to fly to them." he commanded.

Mordin scanned the coordinates, then turned to face Shepard.

"These are uncharted areas."

Shepard nodded.

"I know Mordin."

"What are we going to do there?"

"You remember those rogue symbiotes I mentioned?"

Mordin nodded.

"They're there."

* * *

**A/N: With many ideas and a few more potential stories, I may not have time to focus on this series alone. From this point forward I will be switching from story to story, maybe sticking with one once in a while. If someone wants me to continue this story alone, please tell me so. If not, good for… people… whatever_._**


	16. Notice

**Thought i abandoned it, did you? Wrong.**

**The implications of a new species as well as almost godly powers has made this fic seem silly, but you cant deny how bad-ass it sounds, right?**

**I'm informing you viewers of a project including a large rewrite. This was particularly my first fic, and was written with little experience. Just wait until you read the improved version...**

**So ya... large scale redo on this baby.**

**For those of you who read my other fics and are wondering why the long wait and such, im stonewalled in production, but as of late i recently began getting on the right track, so expect something within the week :P**

**I'm a perfectionist i suppose, always improving, always editing and fixing stuff... its a good thing actually.**

**If any have anything to ask of me, be it suggestions or comments, simply PM me.**

**I will post the edited chapters along with a long awaited new chapter, so you'll know when its happened.**

**Suffice to say, the newer chapters will all surface around a certain song called "Not Falling" by Mudvayne. Gotta admit, metal just gets me in a fighting mood.**


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